


Cultured Teacher

by TheNoca



Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Difference, American Football, Comedy, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Filipino Character, Funny, Harems, High School, History Jokes, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, In-Jokes, Inappropriate Humor, Jokes, Mild Language, Multi, Randomness, Romance, Sad and Happy, School, Sitcom, Slice of Life, Sweet, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teachers, Teen Crush, Teen Romance, Teen Years, Teenage Drama, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-09-26 14:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNoca/pseuds/TheNoca
Summary: A 28 year old history teacher, Mitchell Monceda, working at an all-girls school has worked here for the last 3 years and is beloved among his piers and the student body as someone who "teaches like a pro" and hasn't had a failing student in his 3 years of teaching at the school despite him being a male in an all-girls school. However, in his 4th year, he is given a challenge he is in no shape for. He must teach a room full of high school transfer students from Japan, France, and the UK on the culture of America.He has an entire school year to teach these students on the culture of America and defuse any misconceptions these students may have. Take note: He isn't given a plan and is told to wing it and it's of course, an all-girls class. Without a teaching plan to take this situation, he still looks to teach however he can through his own experiences on living in America along with some personal stories about his experiences.Will he be able to have them pass an end-of-year culture test, or will he finally flop under the pressure. The future of these exchange students hinges on his teaching plan.





	1. The First Day (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story setting I'm definitely not used to. I don't do comedic stories like this as most of my stories are rather serious, but this was something I wanted to start for some odd reason. I had different versions of this story that took place with pop idol groups, co-workers, and somehow I stopped on high school teacher. I'm not sure what lead me to this, but I can say the Netflix show Mr. Iglesias definitely inspired me to go with the high school theme.
> 
> A lot of the subtle jokes will be inspired with his, so I hope you enjoy this story as it's very rare for me to like a comedic story since most comedic stories I've read revolve around cheesy jokes and poorly timed humorous moments without any real meaning. This story will teach life lessons, stuff on the American Culture that many people (including myself) might not known about. Please enjoy, Cultured Teacher.

"And we hope you have a wonderful year here at Eagle Mountain Academy," A young woman announced in a large auditorium where a large group of female students sat applauding her, "Thank you and you are dismissed," The students stood and slowly left the auditorium leaving the young woman alone.

As soon as the final student left, she slowly collapsed onto the ground sighing in relief. A young man walked out from behind the curtain carrying a water bottle chuckling, "So prince, how's your 4th year into being principal of Eagle Mountain Academy working out for you?"

"Can it Mitchell. It's not easy being in the front of things like that," She looked up while rubbing her forehead and sighed as she took the bottle from the young man's hand, "This is not easy...," She quickly opened the bottle and took a big gulp of water.

"But you're the one that signed up for this and dragged me into it. I would say that we're both suffering through it, but I see no problems in it," The young man sat next to the woman and chuckled, "But hey, you know I'm here for you."

"Yeah, it's either that or I fire you."

"Yeah, and that wouldn't sit well with the student body."

"I know. It sucks that you've earned such a good relationship with everyone despite this being an all-girls academy. You've really made a name for yourself in this academy."

"It's because of my teaching ethics. You know that."

"I know..."

"Well, the school day has started. Let's get going before our students wonder where we are," The young man, now known as Mitchell stood up and offered his hand to the young woman, "Let's go Anna."

The young woman, now known as Anna took his hand and smiled, "Actually, before you start your day, I need meet with you in my office."

"Huh?"

* * *

A few moments later, the two were now in a rather large office with the main part on the first floor with a large library on a small second floor, "It still boggles my mind that your office is this huge. Like, not once did I ever think you would have something like this when you started this job."

"It's a pain to keep in order. There's times where I go through that 2nd floor looking for books and it just ends up being a huge mess," Anna sat at her desk and ushered Mitchell to follow her, "Well, as for why I needed you here, there's a special task that needed to be assigned to you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because it's in your level of expertise. American History and such."

"Yeah? And?"

"Well, this class is full of transfer students from 3 countries."

"English speaking countries I hope?"

"Well, they are fluent in English."

"That didn't answer my question, but alright. What countries?"

"France, Japan, and the UK."

"Okay. So what am I teaching them? Just Entrance to American History or something?"

"Not exactly," Anna turned around in her chair and sighed, "You'll be teaching them about American Culture."

"American Culture? What?"

"I'm not sure why, but it's to teach foreign exchange students about American Culture and some of the misconceptions they might've learned online or from some of their friends."

"But why me. I know I'm a good teacher, but there are some unspoken rules I don't know about our own culture. How am I suppose to plan for something so last minute?"

"You can figure it out, right?"

"I don't think I can. How do I plan for this?"

"Well, let them ask questions first. Remember, this is only the first day. Let the class introduce themselves and see what they know about American Culture. Try and plan off of what they know."

"Okay. Any suggestions on what I should start with though?"

"Try out small and easy. Like basic customs that you know yourself. House customs, clothing, food etc," Anna jumped her head up and quickly turned around, "Wait a minute. Why am I telling you how to do your job?"

"Because that is your job," Mitchell sighed and leaned on her desk, "But you are helping me here. I'll be sure give you a shout out or something."

"Oh my god...," Anna rubbed her temples as she stood up and walked towards Mitchell, "Look, just go on and start planning for your class. It's the only American Culture class you'll teach. The rest are your regular American History classes."

"Well fine, but it's on you if my perfect years are ruined because you put me in this situation," Mitchell turned to leave Anna to begin his day, but before he left, he turned to ask, "What period is that class exactly?"

"It's the class after lunch. So you have time to think about how you want to start the class."

"Alright then," Mitchell walked off after waving Anna away.

* * *

Later that day, after going through his day normally and speaking to the new freshman of Eagle Mountain Academy. He silently paced around in the faculty lounge as he thought over his plan during lunch to take this new challenge. With his clipboard in hand, he read over a draft of his plan, "Okay, so maybe I start with just simple introductions and then...," While pacing around, he accidentally walked into another staff member.

A woman in her early to late 30s with long black hair, "Oh dear..."

"Oh," Mitchell looked up and sighed apologetically, "My bad Ina."

"Oh it's no problem. I heard about the class Ms. Park had you take."

"Yeah, it's been bugging me ever since she told me about it," Mitchell scratched the back of his head as he sat in one of the chair in the lounge, "This just sucks..."

"Well, you are the only teacher qualified for something like this. Think about it Mitchell. You're the best teacher this academy has ever acquired. You know how to teach students."

"Well, that was on a subject I knew how to teach. I don't know how to tackle this. Mind helping me Ina?"

"I believe I'm of no help unless you want my insight."

"Anna already gave me some. I'm talking about lesson plans or anything really. What if my class if out of control?'

"Stick to your usual plans. Be hands on and get on the level of the students. Do what you can to be one with them."

"Are you sure that will work?"

"They're teens Mitchell. Teens are the same no matter where they're from. I'm sure you'll handle this with no problem," Ina sat across from Mitchell and pushed his clipboard down, "But right now, take it easy. You're going to grow a few grey hairs if you keep stressing out this hard about it.."

"I know. I just wanna keep my perfect years going you know? I just wanna get to five years and that's that," Mitchell leaned back in the chair and chuckled, "Oh well..."

"I believe in you and I know Ms. Park does too. She wouldn't have given you this task if she didn't."

"I guess you're right," Mitchell stood up and started to walk out the lounge.

"Are you not gonna eat?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry today. I'm just gonna go set up for my next class," Mitchell waved Ina off and walked out of the faculty lounge.

* * *

A few moments later, Mitchell had already set up in his class while reading over his plans for the day, "First, introductions, and then I'l allow them to comment on what they know about our culture," Mitchell set his clipboard down and looked towards his classroom door, "Might as well greet the students when they come in," Mitchell quickly walked outside and waited next to his door. 

Mitchell held another clipboard that had the attendance sheet for the class he was in. He glanced over it as students began to walk in. He greeted them every now and then while looking at each name. It was only until a Japanese student walked up to him handing him a small basket, "Uh, hello?" Mitchell placed the clipboard under his arm and took the hand basket.

"My name Azami Senri. I believe I'm one of your students."

"Well, judging by who you are, yes. You are one of my students, but uh, why are you giving me this?"

"I just wanted to be nice and hand my teachers hand baskets full of baked goods and such."

"Oh, thank you and man was our principal right. You speak English extremely well. Almost like you've lived in America for a little bit."

"I have an American mother and a Japanese father. So I grew up learning English."

"That's great. Well, go ahead and head inside. Class will be starting soon," Azami nodded and quickly headed inside. Mitchell looked over the basket and chuckled, "That's sweet," He sighed deeply before looking around as the halls were clear of students, "That should be everyone," Just as Mitchell stepped inside and proceeded to close the door, another girl quickly jammed her arm through shocking Mitchell, "Whoa there!" Mitchell quickly opened the door and stepped in was a blonde girl with a bow in her hair, "And you are?"

"Sorry," The girl spoke with a heavy British accent while huffing and puffing heavily, "I didn't know where my classes were, so I've been running around trying to figure out where they are."

"Well," Just as Mitchell spoke, the school bells rang signalling the beginning of class, "by school rules, this would make you late since you're not in your seat."

"But I..."

"But, since it's the first day, I'll let it slide. Next time, try and see if one of your classmates can help you, or look for a faculty member for directions. Please take a seat."

"T-Thank you!" The girl quickly took a seat at the front of class.

Mitchell stepped in front of class adding to his earlier statement, "That goes for all of you. I do admit that this academy is a very large campus. It's very easy to get lost in such a big place you're not accustomed to. Trust me, your principal has worked here as long as I have and she still gets lost," The class started to lightly chuckle as Mitchell continued, "It's bad to the point where you get a text in the middle of class from her saying 'Oh my god! I'm lost again! How do I get to the West Wing Faculty Lounge!'," This caused the class to laugh just slightly louder.

"Is she really like that?" One of the other students asked with a slightly heavy French accent.

"For the most part yeah, but she's a great principal. She's just really nervous being so young and a principal of a prestigious all-girls academy."

"Some of our classmates from our other classes say that we're lucky to have you as our teacher. So many people were praising you as if you were the best teacher they ever had," Azami stated, "Is this true?"

"I guess so. I think it's probably due to my teaching ethic. I'm not your usual teacher that would just bombard you with homework and classwork left and right. I don't think that's a way to teach students as it just stresses them out and just messes with their anxiety. I'm more hands on and I try to put myself on the students' level so they won't feel alone while working."

"Wow..."

"Anyway, since this is the first day of class, we'll have to go through introductions obviously. I know this is the tedious part, but it would be hard to teach a class full of people I don't know. Anyway, let's start with Ms. Running-Late here," Mitchell leaned on his desk and asked, "So, who may you be? The floor is yours."

"Oh! I'm Sabrina Allaire! I'm a transfer student from France. I've always wanted to come to the US to learn about their customs and to just see what it felt like!"

"That's great. This class would be perfect for you. Is there anything we should know about you?"

"Well, at home, I was pretty good soccer player. My family didn't really like it because I would always be dirty after practice or a game, but I loved it. The adrenaline rush you get from soccer just got me pumped up."

"Haha, I was kinda the same. I played American Football and the marching band in high school and loved being the adrenaline rush from both."

"You played?" Sabrina asked, "My country has a small American Football league called Ligue Élite de Football Américain. I just recently got into it. What about you?"

"Well, I enjoy American Football as much as the next American. One of the few things you'll learn in this class, but uh, I do know of the international popularity American Football has. So far though, I've only seen the X-League, which Japan's American Football League and Germany's American Football League."

"That's awesome. Do you think we could take a field trip to a game here in America?!" The class started to get rowdy as Sabrina brought up the suggestion.

"Now, now kids. That's something I think would be cool, but it would also have to be cool with the prince. She has to take it up with the district to get it approved, but I definitely will consider it. If not, I'm sure I can think of something."

"Sweet!"

"Now, Azami. I'd like you to introduce yourself to the class. We already met earlier outside after you handed this cute basket here. Why don't you tell us more?"

"Oh well, I previously lived in America for only two years and I was still a baby, so I didn't pick up much. I've pretty much lived in Japan for most of my life."

"That's interesting. Where in Japan did you live?"

"I lived in Nagoya Japan for about 8 years before moving to Osaka."

"Interesting. I remember you saying that your mom was American, right? I would understand that she would try to teach a little about her own culture to you, right?"

"She would from time to time, but we were focused on our own Japanese Culture. So there are some things I'm not too keen on American Culture."

"That's fine. That's what this class if for. Is there anything else we should know about you?"

"I didn't play many sports, but I did watch a few."

"That's fine. Watching is also part of America's culture. Just look at what happened throughout the beginning of WWII," The class lightly chuckled as Mitchell moved to sit behind his desk, "Anyway, let's move on before we get a little too political or... controversial. Next, let's have you in the back introduce yourself," The girl was quiet the whole time and didn't have any reaction to anything that was happening, "I noticed you weren't really cooperating and laughing with everyone. Is something wrong?"

"I'm just wondering as to why you're teaching here," The class grew silent as Mitchell chuckled, "What's funny?"

"Well, I deal with maybe 4-6 girls each year who are exactly like you. So far, I only have 2 others before this class. So you make it 3. Don't worry though. I'll be sure to break that salty-attitude by the end of the semester. If I do it by Mid-Terms, then that ties my other records. Look, you don't have to talk about yourself, just introduce yourself and we'll leave it at that."

"Well, ahem," The girl didn't have any particular accent and said, "My name is Callie Gray and I'm not an exchange student. I just took this class because I heard a man was teaching it."

"You know, if you didn't want to be taught by a man, why did you take my class? It just seems like you made a conflicting choice with your belief. Besides, I'm not one to back down from a challenge, and you're gonna be the first sub-challenge I face," Callie took a seat with pout growing on her face, "Alright, now let's continue with our introductions."

* * *

After about an hour or so of introductions, for the last 10 minutes of class, Mitchell started to wrap up class, "And now, we only 10 minutes left and we have some very interesting people in here. Kyoumi, it was quite interesting to know about your... ahem... preferences," A Japanese girl beside Sabrina smiled and chuckled with Mitchell showing a face of concern, "We're gonna have to talk to your parents. Your host and your real parents..."

"Mr. Monceda, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Azami asked.

"Yeah. We wanna know how interesting your life was before you threw it away by being a teacher," Sabrina added nonchalantly.

"Uh, I did not throw my life away by being a teacher Sabrina. I did that when I decided to take this job up with the prince," The laugh chuckled a little as Mitchell continued, "Uh, we only have a few minutes, so I'll talk about as much as I can before class ends," Mitchell cleared his throat and continued, "So, I wasn't actually born here in California. I was born out of country belief it or not. I was actually born in the Philippines."

"Wait, so you weren't born in America?" Azami asked, "You don't look Filipino."

"You're right. I don't. I mean, Darren Criss is Half-Filipino and he doesn't look like he is. Well, unless he gets a tan and shaved his head, then he could pass off as one of the Santanas," Mitchell's class laughed at his joke before he continued, "Anyway, I'm also a halfie as well. Although the other half isn't American, it's another minority."

"Minority?"

"Yeah. I'm Half-Filipino and Half-Hispanic. I was born by a Filipino mother and a Hispanic Father. Now, although I was born in the Philippines, I was only there for less than year. My family quickly moved here to the States after I was born and we lived in Tennessee until I turned 21 after I graduated from the University of Memphis."

"So you lived in the South?" Sabrina questioned.

"Well," Mitchell quickly put on a southern accent, "I wouldn't say it was the south, but I was pretty much in between," Mitchell chuckled along with his class and switched back to his normal voice, "But living there, you would think that someone like me and my family would've faced racial adversities, but in reality, I didn't face any of that. Mostly because of the town I lived. In that town, there were multiple ethical groups and since I didn't look like my ethical group, I was considered white for most of my school career there."

"What changed?"

"It changed when I decided to play football and join the marching band. When the sun baked me, so did my chances of ever joining a country club," Mitchell looked off to the side and shook his head while his class laughed, "But nobody really knew I was Half-Filipino. They only knew me as 'Hey, it's that Mexican Kid!'. Some people thought I was a cholo because of how I dressed."

"Like a gang member?"

"No, just a person that dressed like most of the black people at my school," The class slowly nodded as Mitchell continued, "It kinda just stayed like that until I confirmed that there was another half to the tanned kid. For those of you that don't know, Filipinos are considered Asian. And no, it's not because of the eyes," Mitchell pointed to his eyes and shook his head, "Filipinos are mostly considered that because of where it is. We're either a Pacific Islander, or Asian."

"A lot of the Filipinos in Japan always classified themselves as 'Bootlegged Spaniards'," Kyoumi stated.

"Trust me, we kinda are. If it weren't for the eyes, we could pass off as a cholos. That's actually what I dressed as..."

"For Halloween?" Sabrina questioned.

"No, my freshman winter band concert," Mitchell moved back to lean on his desk and chuckled, "But a lot of people would think Filipinos would face a lot of adversity mostly because we look like two minorities people tend to dislike, but to be honest with you, we weren't at all. Now if I lived in Alaska, then I would've faced that type of adversity. But I was actually welcomed well among my piers. I mean, look at your prince. I've known her since we were in Middle School and she is the whitest you can get when you go to a school where the white kid is the minority. That's before any of you could even grasp the concept of racism and lived the good life."

Mitchell's class laughed again as he looked at his watch, "Well, we only have about 3 and a half minutes left. What else can I quickly get to?"

"Why did you want to become a teacher?" Sabrina asked with a lot of the other students agreeing, "Usually people become teachers when they give up on their true dream and have nothing else to turn to."

Mitchell face changed before chuckling, "Uh no. That's a principal, but I wanted to become a teacher to help kids learn the right way. Now, initially I wanted to be an English teacher, but when I went in, everyone and their mother wanted to become a teacher. I'm not joking, I went to a community college before I went transferred to Memphis and a mother and her daughter were in the same class with the thought of being an English teacher in their minds. It was weird because both of them were hot," Mitchell shook his head to get them out of his head before continuing, "History was the next thing. I love history from all over the world. Why I chose American History though is beyond me."

"I'm sure there's more to it though? Why?"

"Well, when I was being taught in high school, my teachers weren't exactly the best. A lot of them worried too much on helping students pass through cheap tactics than actually teaching them. It was hard to watch how many kids passed English and Reading who couldn't read or write their own names. There were kids who didn't even know they were in school because they came high, drunk, on coke, or an odd combination of the 3. That's how you know you hit the jackpot. Nobody learned anything at school. The only way you could is if you were in the honor class and since I was the stubborn kid who didn't want to do stupid art projects for an English class, I never got to be in an honor class. That's how messed up our Education System was at that time. I wanted to take matters into my own hand and started to work for a teaching degree so I can change how students learn. I wanted students to learn from a teacher who actually cared and someone who could actually relate to them."

"Wow, you're really passionate about this."

"Of course. I can't stand seeing America get dumber over poor teaching habits and ethics. I have made small difference as well. In my 3 years of teaching here, not one of my students has failed through my standards. It's what kept this school to be an Elite 100 Private School. This isn't going to change this year either. I'm going to make sure all of you pass. You can bet on it," Just as Mitchell said this, the bell rang for class transition, "Well, I'm sure we learned a lot about each other. Didn't go by my schedule, but we are making progress. I want you guys to make sure to prepare any questions on the American Culture that you want answered. Be prepared everyone!"

Students started to slowly and calmly walk out. However, 3 students stayed behind. The 3 students were Azami, Sabrina, and Kyoumi, "Hey girls, you 3 should be getting class. What's up?"

"We just want to thank you for opening up so well to everyone," Azami started, "We were at first skeptical mostly because you are a man teaching at an all-girls school."

"Trust me, I'm still skeptical as to how the district hasn't sent me to live on the street yet..."

"But we see you have the passion to see all of us succeed," Sabrina added, "How you converse with us makes class comfortable rather than having a teacher who's just straight monotonous."

"Ooo, you have Ms. Santiago?"

"How'd you know?"

"Trust me, whenever she walks into the faculty lounge, we can feel our souls being sucked from within because of her monotonous personality."

"Hehe...," Sabrina chuckled lightly as she added, "My whole class felt the same..."

"All in all," Kyoumi interrupted, "We look forward to the school year with you Mr. Monceda."

"No problem. Now run along. I don't want to be at fault for having you 3 late to your next class," The girls left leaving Mitchell alone and looking at his clipboard on his plan. Behind him, he heard a light knock at his door, "Hm?" He turned around to see Anna smiling at him, "Hey there prince. Need something?"

"Nah, but I am here to tell you that a lot of your kids are giving high praise from just one day with you."

"Yeah, and?"

"Didn't I tell you it was easy? You have what it takes to lead these to success."

"Success in what? Our culture? Anna, I know I'll have them pass, but what else can I do. Their other classes are handled by the other teachers."

"Do you really think Ms. Santiago will do well for these kids?" Mitchell nodded as Anna sighed, "Look, these kids will look to you for guidance no matter what class they're in."

"I hope they look for it in math. You know math and I don't go together at all..."

"It still surprises me that it took you 2 years to pass geometry but you passed your college math class in one semester."

"Trust me, that was all luck... and a little bit of cheating," Mitchell slowly turned around as she picked up his thermos and started to slowly drink from it.

"But Mitchell, you need to be there for these students if they need your help in anything else. That's why you became a teacher, right?"

"Man, I just went through why I became one a few moments ago," Mitchell looked at his clipboard again before throwing in the trash, "But I won't be using a plan. I'm just gonna wing it like you said. I think this plan works better than a real plan."

"Good," The two nodded at each other for a moment before Anna asked, "Those were your attendance sheets, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

Anna sighed as she walked out, "I'll go reprint them..."

"Thanks!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this prologue or pilot if this was sitcom of Culture Teacher. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope all of you enjoyed reading it. I'll be working on this quite a bit as this story has gotten me interested a lot in a culture that a lot of people might have misconceptions of.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I see all of you in the next chapter.


	2. American Households, Etiquette, and Alcohol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mitchell teaches his kid on some etiquette in households and outside along with some alcohol consumption differences between the US and some of it's Eastern and Western counterparts. He also provides a short history lesson on the drinking age of the US and while the drinking age 21.
> 
> Anna announces the academy's annual cultural fair and Mitchell's class are excited not only to learn even more about American culture, but to learn and teach others of their own cultures. They are also excited about the fair's concert that allows students and faculty to perform and they want Mitchell to perform.
> 
> Mitchell also finds out that Callie's hostility towards him and apparently to other men is due to an irrational fear of men. Mitchell now looks to plan a way to earn her trust and see why she has a fear of men.

"Good afternoon everyone," Mitchell greeted his students as they started to file into his class, "I hope you have questions for today's class. We learned a lot about each other yesterday. Does anyone mind recapping yesterday's discussion."

Azami raised her hand and immediately went into her recap, "We learned that both you and Sabrina are fans of adrenaline raising sports. I'm Half-American and Half-Japanese. Then you voiced your opinions on the American Educational System and why you became a teacher."

"That sums it up loosely," Mitchell proceeded to lean in front of his desk and asked, "So what questions will you bestow upon your American Culture teacher."

"Well, some of us wanted to know how American Households may differ from our own," Sabrina stated, "Like, I've noticed that beds here are rather large compared to ones in France."

"Yeah, and I realized that people leave their shoes on when they enter someone's house," Kyoumi added, "That was a real culture shock when I first arrived at my host family's house."

"Yeah, but that really depends on the family. Alright, based how I grew up, my family wanted our house to look nice in case any guests came. Now, generally, guests have to take off their shoes when they enter the house, but certain people allow their guests to keep their shoes on. This is based on informal relationships with someone."

"Oh, so like a close friend or something?" Azami confirmed.

"Exactly. But, most people that have visited my house usually take their shoes off as a sign of common courtesy. In some cultures, it would just be respectful to do something like this. It may differ from household to household though."

"What about beds and the fact you guys have a central AC unit! I swear, we would burn up while in France every time summer rolled around. Having a central AC unit is a blessing."

"Yeah, one of the great things we have in America is controllable air-conditioning. Trust me, an American would more than likely die if they didn't have an AC unit. Either that or go on strike about how poor our lifestyle here in America is when just about most people in France don't have AC. Or heat," Sabrina nodded in agreement as Mitchell continued, "As for beds, uh, that kinda depends. If you're tall or not."

"Well, seeing those king and queen size beds straight up blew my mind."

"That's so strange. Well, I personally don't own a king or queen sized bed, so I don't have that luxury. But that's interesting to know that beds in France are relatively smaller. That's very interesting."

"Any insight on why beds could be big as apposed to other places."

"To be honest, that's something I might have to look into. Trust me, I know in Japan that they would have futons or platform beds, but I didn't know France lived that way."

"We also have one general bathroom, but that's mostly because our houses are small. Maybe that's why our beds are small as well."

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"I want to know why people here in the US tip," Azami quesioned, "In Japan, we don't usually tip as it could be rude and insulting to the person serving you."

"Okay, in American Culture, it's common courtesy to tip your waiter/waitress. However, that's only if they service well. I had a waitress who ignored me and my friends simply because of the pigmentation of my skin. We all needed water because it was hot. My group's waitress passed us multiple times and didn't even acknowledge us. She didn't ask how we were doing, if our food wasb good, and get this, the place wasn't even busy. But uh, yeah..."

"So people actually tip here?" Kyoumi questioned in which Mitchell nodded, "In Japan, you usually pay in the front with your bill and never leave a tip."

"I see. That's pretty interesting. That would totally make a lot of people's day here in America. Anyway, what else do all of you want to know?"

"In France, wine and other alcoholic drinks are normal with meals. I don't see that much here?"

"Well, at more of the fancier restaurants, it is very common to drink wine with your meal, or as I mentioned yesterday, when American's watch sporting events, beer is a definite common drink while watching."

"I heard some other students say beer is common at parties."

"If the party is full of legal patrons. If you're under 21 and drinking then you're in for some big trouble," Mitchell's head actually shot up as the topic of alcohol was brought up, "Well, I also heard that the UK and France has their legal drinking age at 18 and Japan at 20. I can understand Japan, but why so young in those European countries?"

"Actually," A student with a British Accent started, "It's not only that, but it is not illegal for someone over 18 to buy a child over the age of 16 beer, wine, or cider. If it's permitted on a licensed premises. Not to mention that is isn't illegal for a child aged 5 to 16 to drink alcohol at home or on other private premises."

"That's uh... kinda weird Amina"

"In France, it used to be 16 from what I heard. But now it's 18, and the penalties for breaking that law have strengthen," Sabrina added, "If a vendors sell alcohol to a minor, they could charged up to 1,500 Euros for breaking that rule."

"Well, as you know in the US, the legal drinking age is 21. Now, small history lesson here, this legal age of 21 is the conclusion of what is known as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. This law forced states to enact the minimum drinking age of 21 or they would lost 10% of their federal highway funding. For a small part of the 20th century, we were like most other European countries where the drinking age was 18. However, this was changed due the concept of someone being an full-fledged adult when they turn 21."

"Can you explain on that more?" Azami asked.

"Gladly," Pulled down a diagram of an aging person throughout the centuries, "Now look at this way. Through out the English common law, 21 was the age for someone to drink among other things. This included, voting, becoming a knight, a politician etc," He proceeded to bring down a few fake posters of alcohol being the gateway to bad health, "There is the misconception that the states adopted this minimum drinking age over health reasons, but that is not the case. Like I stated earlier, it was over federal highway funding."

"How long was the drinking age 18 in the US before that act?" Kyoumi questioned.

"After the Prohibition in the 1930s, the drinking age was 21 and was like that until 1971 when the voting age dropped to 18 and this sparked a buzz to do the same to the drinking age."

"And it took effect?"

"Yup, but you see it didn't really take long for it to be voted back down in 1984, but it did take 2 years after the act for every state to adopt the new drinking age."

"Wow..."

"I wish I had you for my history class," Sabrina frustratingly added, "That was a nice small lesson that wasn't too wordy."

"Like I said, I know how to teach. Don't worry though, this small history lesson won't be on a quiz. Unless all would want it for extra credit?" The whole class spurred up and agreed to it, "Alright, I'll implement it on our next quiz."

"Oh!" Sabrina quickly raised her hand, "Can you go about how your household is like?"

"Why? My household isn't all too special."

"Think about it. With how interesting your teaching habit is, we would think it would be interesting to know how you are outside of here."

"That seems a little too personal. You guys sound like my ex from college. That stupid... kalapating mababa ang lipad," Mitchell took deep breath before continuing, "But let's safe that for maybe our class activities. Apart from my own life, has there been anything else you girls would like to know?"

"We've noticed people can be very rude here. Sometimes people would just say 'excuse me' to not sound rude, but how they come across when saying 'excuse me' is just something to say. Is that very common?" Amina questioned.

"Well, that mostly depends on where you live. California is full of dicks either looking for it or giving it, but that's because of the type of society. Now, I won't discredit the good people of California. There are some wonderful people I've met here and Ms. Santiago, but when you see how fast California moves, you will begin to realize that people don't have time to be courteous and properly apologize for bumping into you. Now granted, there are people who will take offence to it, but I've gotten used to it. Trust me, it is a quite a shock when you come from a place where common courtesy is, well, common. To a place where people could care less about your feelings. Trust me though. It's either here or Australia where political correctness is laughed at among people."

"Huh?" The class questioned.

"Me, the prince, and Ms. Moon took a small faculty vacation to Australia and people were mean. The one small thing that you did, they would insult you for it. They managed a go-happy guy like feel like someone who just drunk 16 shots of tequila while fighting depression and was about to commit super slide by learning how to tie a rope," Some of the class felt sorry, some laughed, and others remained silent, "Anyway, that would be culture shock not just to all of you, but some who moves here to Long Beach from let's say... South Dakota."

"I have a girl in my class from South Dakota and she is uh...," Kyoumi started, "She's very... how do I put this...?"

"White?"

"I think 'White' would be an understatement for her..."

"Oh no, she's not smoking pot is she?"

"No, but she is on something..."

"Yikes," Before Mitchell could say anything else, an announcement came on through the intercom.

"Good afternoon students and faculty," Anna spoke with some partial feedback from her microphone causing people to wince.

"Oh, let's see what our prince has to announce."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but as you know, 3 weeks from now, we will be holding our annual cultural fair!"

"I thought we pushed that up to 2 weeks?" Mitchell wondered.

"Since we have a class of transfer students, we would like to learn more about their culture along with maybe some of our own students and their culture."

"That could work...," Mitchell looked over at his class and smiled while Anna continued with the announcement.

"As you know, the cultural fair will be taking place all around the campus. So if you'd like to sign up and be a rep for your culture, then the sign up sheet will be placed in the main lobby. Thank you, and please continue on with your day."

"Hm, 6/10. The feedback from your mic wasn't all too good," Mitchell chuckled as he turned to his class, "So girls? How does this cultural fair sound?"

"So, all we do is show off what our culture is like?" Sabrina asked.

"Yeah. As long as it's legal and school-friendly."

"Right. Is there some sort of way it can be handled?"

"Well, through out the last 3 years, people set up booths or something significant in a classroom. The cultural fair is always so lit because it's the day my cheat day lands on and I scarf down copious amounts of food."

"Cheat day?"

"I schedule my diet and workout plan to perfectly land on the cultural fair. That's the day I can go out and eat all the carbs, protein, sugar, and fats I want. It sucks to lose it all again for the following week, but that initial day is totally worth it."

"Are there other major events happening?"

"There is a concert that allows students or faculty to perform."

"Have you performed, Mr. Monceda?" Mitchell chuckled and held his hands up as Azami asked the question, "Huh? What's up Mr. Monceda?"

"I have been tempted from time to time, but I haven't yet. The prince, some faculty, and students have all said I should, but I don't want to."

"Why not?!" Everyone in the class asked. Well, everyone except Callie who only rolled her eyes and took out her phone. Before Mitchell noticed this and was about to say something, but Sabrina hopped out of her seat to say, "You should perform for that day!"

"Girls, I'm not sure if anyone would want to see perform?"

"Are you kidding?! I'm sure everyone would love to see you perform. You're the schools most popular teacher. How could they not want to see you perform?"

"That makes it sound like I'm the school mascot...," Mitchell chuckled and held his hands up, "Look, I still have time to figure out if I would want to do so or not. Just sit down, and let's finish up with our class.

"Alright..."

* * *

After the class settled down, they spent the remained of class learning more about household etiquette along with some more minor facts on alcohol in America. Once the bell rung for class, everyone got up and started to leave class. However, Mitchell stopped a student, "Wait a second. Callie, please come here."

Callie sighed while Azami, Kyoumi, Amina, and Sabrina stopped to listen, but Mitchell ushered them off. Callie walked over to Mitchell's desk and responded with an attitude, "What is it?"

"First off, fix that attitude. Secondly, you took your phone out during class and that's against school policy. Normally, I would have to take it up and keep until the end of class, but since the class got rowdy, I let it slide."

"Okay, and?"

"Like I said, fix that attitude. Anyway, next time you take your phone out though, there will be consequences. Remember, phones aren't allowed in a classroom. I don't know if you're dislike towards men is fogging up your rational thought, but you should really try to participate more. I do have a participation grade in my class, and if you're not participating, you're not being graded."

"Is this your of way of helping people pass?"

"Callie, I don't know why you don't want me as a teacher. If you'd like, I can send a request to Ms. Park to have you transferred out of my class and into another. I don't want this to hurt your GPA," Callie looked up at Mitchell as he rummaged through his desk. He took out a file that had Callie's name on it, "You're sitting a 4.0 GPA and you're rank number 1 in the freshman class. I don't want to ruin this perfection you have by having a participation grade hurt you. I'm giving you two choices. You either start participating, or I transfer you into another class. So what's it gonna be?"

"I...," Callie stuttered slightly before sighing and answering with a small nod.

"Alright, you're dismissed. Oh, and as you leave, tell the 4 eavesdropping exchange students to step in," He heard 4 yelps of different accents before Azami, Kyoumi, Amina, and Sabrina walked in after Callie stepped out.

"Yes Mr. Monceda?"

"Is there a reason as to why you 3 were eavesdropping?"

"Well, we wanted to know what going to happen to Callie."

"Are you 3 acquainted with her in anyway?"

"Actually, we are. The 5 of us have a class together and we're all great friends. We just don't understand her hate towards you."

"Has she given any hints though?"

"She only states that she more has a fear of men," Sabrina explained, "That could explain her hostility towards you."

"So her hostility is like a form of self-defense...," Mitchell brought his hands to his together and brought them to his mouth, "But a fear of men. I wonder what that could be...," He looked at the 4 girls and sighed, "You 3 are dismissed. I'm gonna have to talk to the prince about this."

* * *

Later that day, Mitchell, Anna, and Ina were sitting at a small restaurant drinking light alcohol. Anna and Ina noticed something was on Mitchell's mind and questioned him, "Uh, Mitchell, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" He suddenly looked up from his trance and chuckled, "Uh, what?"

"You're not acting like yourself Mitchell. Is something wrong?" Anna asked, "We don't like it when you look like this..."

"Sorry, it's about one of my students."

"That is strange. You never question us about your students. What's wrong?" Ina asked, "I'm sure we can help."

"It's a girl called Callie Gray. She's one of the few girls that doesn't like me because I'm a man teaching at Eagle Mountain," Mitchell leaned back and sipped some of his drink before continuing, "After you made the announcement about the cultural fair, my students were extremely excited about it. Especially on the performance part of it."

"They want you to perform?"

"Yeah, but when the class got rowdy over that, she rolled her eyes and took out her phone."

"Did you take her phone up as you should?"

"I was about to say something, but my students were just too rowdy for me to ignore. I did talk to her after class and she has some attitude. I offered her to transfer out if she's uncomfortable, but she chose to stay anyway. When I dismissed her, some of my own students told me that she's actually a sweet girl, but she has a general fear of men."

"Fear of men?"

"Yeah, and it's just had me thinking. I don't want to intrude on her personal life, but this raises questions for me. Every scenario that I think of just worries me more and more."

"A fear of men is usually linked to something that happened when she was young...," Anna started.

"Or something that's going on now...," Ina finished.

"That's what I'm worried about. What if it's a combination of both?"

"Both? How?"

"Something that happened before and is still continuing now. I want to get to the bottom of it, but I want to earn her trust rather force... myself..."

"Mitchell, I know you care about your students, but I think you should let others handle it."

"I know, but the good side of me is just begging me to help in anyway I can."

"Well, do it the way you know best. Level with her. Get on her level."

Mitchell sighed as he stood up and nodded, "Alright, I'm gonna do just that," Mitchell put some money on the table before sprinting outside.

"Well, there he goes. What do you think he's planning for his class tomorrow?" Ina asked, "You've known him longer."

"At this point, I don't even know, but whatever he does try always works. So I trust him," She looked at drink and chuckled saying, "He didn't finish his drink...," She slowly reached over for the drink, but someone slapped her hand, "Ow...," She turned around to see Mitchell again, "Mitchell!"

"Nope. You told me not to let you drink, and I'm doing exactly that," Mitchell took his cup and chugged the entire cup of alcohol rather quickly shocking both Anna and Ina, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna use the light buzz I have and plan out on what to do with Callie."

"Uh...," Anna started, "Did that just happen?"

"I did not expect him to chug that..."

And now, Mitchell was off to figure out how to handle Callie's fear of men by getting on the same level as her. Somehow, he knew how to do so.


	3. Including Callie and Mitchell's past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mitchell finds a way to include Callie on class activities in an attempt to break her out of her shell. However, he also reveals a not-so funny past to his class along with that same past coming back to haunt him in the form of a District School Board Member.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be some minor language and heavy drama in this chapter. Not many jokes will be made here as it sets up a central conflict for Mitchell and his class. So please bear with the serious turn the chapter takes later. I promise we'll go back to comedic chapters after this one.

The next few days, Mitchell planned in his house something to help Callie ease into some of the class conversations. About a week after finding out about Callie's fear of men, Mitchell was prepared to take this bull by the horns and properly earn her trust, "Good afternoon class. I have an activity planned for today's class," Mitchell revealed on the board 3 teams, "So, since the amount of UK, France, and Japanese students in this class is relatively even, I thought we'd have a review game before the our quiz this coming Friday."

"Oh! I wanna be on team UK!" Sabrina shouted as she shot her hand up.

"Uh, you can't, you have to be on team France," Sabrina put her hand down sadly causing Mitchell to chuckle, "I want UK students to set up in the back, French students to my left, and Japanese students to my right," Mitchell watched Callie closely as she was relatively confused as she wasn't an exchange student, "And Callie," She shot him a glance before looking away again, "Since you're not an exchange student. I'll have you ask the questions for the review. I'll keep score."

"H-Huh?"

"Yeah, don't worry. It'll give you a chance to participate. I'll keep score and you'll ask the questions," Mitchell held out a packet of papers and ushered Callie to come to the front, "Come on, I'll give you extra credit if you want."

"Uh...," Callie slowly stood up and walked towards the front of the class.

"Neat. So, you start on whatever questions you want. I'll keep track of the score and say if they're right or not. Also, the winning team of this will get 5 points added to their quiz," Mitchell gave a Callie a thumbs up who looked at with a worrisome and confused face, "Go on Callie."

Callie took a deep breath and started with the first question, "Uh, this is an extra credit question. If you remember, we talked about the National Minimum Drinking age Act of 1984," The class nodded and Callie continued, "Who introduced this to the House and when did they introduce it?"

The three teams started to discuss among themselves until Sabrina banged her table, "Ding! Ding!"

"Uh, Sabrina?"

"Mike Glennon! No wait. Derek Anderson!" Sabrina shouted.

"No...?" Callie added.

"That would be the case if the question was related to the NFL," Mitchell added.

"Uh, anyone else?" Kyoumi raised her hand and Callie asked, "Yes Kyoumi?"

"Glenn M. Anderson who was part of the Democratic Party of California introduced this law to the House on January 24th, 1984."

"That's right," Mitchell stated, "That is one point for the Rising Sun!" Mitchell exclaimed as he placed a tally on Japan's team, "Nice one Kyoumi."

"Yeah, that was great," Callie stated, but as she said this, she turned around to see Mitchell smirking at her. She quickly turned back and cleared her throat, "Anyway, uh, this next question on the tipping in America. Is it almost required in America to tip your waiters or waitresses even if they aren't good?"

"Ooo, nice pick," Mitchell stated, "This is gonna rattle their brains."

"Uh, anyone?"

Azami raised her hand and said, "You are suppose to tip waiters in America as a sign of common courtesy in America. So yeah, you are required to tip waiters or waitresses here."

"Incorrect."

"Aw what?"

"Anyone want to correct Azami?" Callie asked, but the whole class was still conversing among themselves. Callie turned around to see Mitchell only leaning on the wall, "What do I do?"

"I don't know. You can say the right answer if you want, but I think you should let them think a little more on it."

"The right answer...," Callie thought back to the day they talked about it and she remembered, "Uh, everyone, please quiet down," Once the class calmed down, Callie explained the answer, "If you remember from Mr. Monceda's story last week, tipping in America depends on how good your waiter or waitress was. If they did not service you or your table to the utmost of their abilities, then they don't deserve a good tip, if any at all."

"She is absolutely right. Wonderful work Callie," Callie turned to Mitchell smiling brightly at her, "That was nice."

"U-Uh...," Callie turned around and took a deep breath, "Let's keep it going everyone!"

* * *

The class continued with the activity and in the end, everyone was tied at 8. There was only 1 question left, "Uh, this is the tie breaker everyone!" Callie shouted while feeling a little more comfortable in class, "We have one last question and it's an extra credit question that is worth 10?!" Callie turned around to Mitchell who was chuckling and smiling, "Why?"

"It's a very hard question that's only for the people who listen closely. It's not very school-friendly, but I don't care. I did talk about it late last week."

"Okay...," Callie read the question over and she was confused, "Uh, the question is a personal question on Mr. Monceda."

"Oh, this will be easy!" Sabrina, "I know everything about his personal life," Everyone looked at Sabrina who stood from her desk like a superhero.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to look into getting NordVPN or something. I don't wanna risk a 14 year old knowing what I search on the web or where live or my phone number. Wait," Mitchell took out his phone and held it up to reveal a number that has been calling him the last few days, "This number here has been calling me ever since school started last week. Is this you Sabrina?"

"Whaaaaat?"

"Did you get my number from Ms. Moon?"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaa?"

"That 'what' was longer than the first one. Damn it Ina...," Mitchell sighed as she looked at his class, "Nobody calls me from this class unless you tell me who you are. Sabrina, warn me in a text that you're gonna call me at least. I thought I was finally getting caught by immigration."

"Are you an illegal?" Kyoumi questioned.

"No, but they could pin that on me," Mitchell leaned on the board and said, "Anyway, please give the question Callie."

"Well, the question says what is Mr. Monceda's preferred type of alcoholic drink. Did you have Ms. Park check on this?"

"Nah, she doesn't know. She doesn't _need_ to know," Mitchell looked at his class who were completely clueless, "Ah, I knew this would cause them to think. Just a small hint, we talked about it Friday, and it's nothing too fancy."

The class murmured loudly to think about the answer. Callie herself also tried to figure out the answer, _"His favorite alcoholic drink? I do know it's a beer, but which one,"_ Callie looked towards the back of the classroom and pictured herself on the day he talked about his favorite drink.

* * *

-Several Days Earlier-

"Alright class, we have only 10 minutes of class left. Do you girls wanna talk about something before class ends?"

"Oh! Talk about your life outside here!" Sabrina shouted as she shot her hand up, "We know you're best friends with Ms.Park and Ms. Moon!"

"Uh, actually, that would be cool to talk about. Ever since the prince and I started working here, we would always go on a trip with Ms. Moon to somewhere."

"Where did you guys go on your first trip?"

"Haha, we took a road trip that started in New York and ended in Indiana and something uh... interesting went down when we stopped Monticello, Indiana."

"What did you guys do there?"

"There's a resort there called the Indiana Beach Boardwalk Resort," The class was extremely interested in the story since Mitchell brought up a beach resort, "Now, I won't talk about anything that would be considered NSFW. So, I will beat around the bush for it."

"What happened?!" Sabrina asked with the rest of the class beginning to murmur with even Callie interested in the story.

"I'll get to it. So, when we arrived, it was night time and we had just finished a drive from Cleveland. It was about 11 o'clock and we were all exhausted. Now don't be alarmed, we all shared a large suite, so we did share a room."

"Did you 3 do the do?" Kyoumi cooed along with the rest of the class, "Don't worry Mr. Monceda, we'll keep it in the class."

"Like I said, we're keeping this PG, but the 3 of us didn't do anything like that. Anyway, that next day, we had a lot of fun. I did try and tease the prince a lot since she's easy to tease."

"What did you do?"

"All waterparks have those massive waterslides and I convinced the guy at the top to let me and the prince ride together. She was very hesitant, but both Ms. Moon and I knew she wanted to ride with me."

"So who rode in front."

"I was about going to let her ride the front, but she has a fear of heights, so she wanted to ride in the back so she could choke me to death as we slid down."

"Did she?"

"I'll admit, it was funny at first, and then I saw nothing but blackness because she choked me hard."

"So was it worth it?"

"I'm not sure. I did pass out from her choking me, but Ms. Moon said she was about to poop her bikini bottoms while sliding down. Then she said she was worried about me. If I was conscious, I bet it would've been funny."

"What happened later?"

"Later that night having spending more time at the resort, we went to restaurant nearby and uh... I kinda got wasted. Well, both myself and the prince got completely wasted."

"Ooo, is this where the spicy stuff happens?" Amina cooed, "Can we hear it?"

"No. All I remember is being taken to the hotel room by Ms. Moon and waking up the next morning to seeing myself and the prince in the bed cuddling. That's all I'm gonna say," The class started to scream as Mitchell finished off his story, "That's when I knew Heineken was my favorite drink to have that night."

* * *

-Present Time-

Callie shot her head up as she turned around, "M-Mr. Monceda, can I answer this?"

"Hm? Uh, sure. I'm guessing you remembered?"

"Y-Yeah. Ahem," Callie took a deep breath and answered, "If you remember from Mr. Monceda's resort story, he got wasted by drinking a lot of his favorite drink, Heineken."

"Oh yeah. You're spicy night with Ms. Park," Kyoumi cooed.

"Apart from that, Callie is absolutely right. Whenever I go out or buy a 6 pack, I always get Heineken no matter what. A close second would be something like Redd's Apple Ale. Other than that, great job on remembering that Callie."

"Hehe...," Callie softly chuckled as she looked away in embarrassment.

"Well, there was no tie breaker here, so how about this? Everyone gets a 5 point bonus to the quiz!" The class cheered as the last 10 minutes arrived for class, "Well, it's the last 10 minutes, so let's talk a little. Callie, you may take a seat up here, or you can join one of the sides."

"Uh, I'll be fine up here thank you..."

"Alright, it's good you're lightening up for a change," Callie wanted to say something, but she shied down as Mitchell sat down at his desk, "What do you girls wanna know about good ol' Mr. Monceda?"

"How was your football career while in high school?" Amina asked, "Were you a top prospect?"

"No, I was pretty average at best. I would switch between quarterback and running back. Since I was fast though, I was mostly used on special teams as a return man."

"Did you rack many return yards?"

"I did, but most college scouts won't look for someone who is a one-trick pony who wasn't even decent. I didn't average many return yards per game and I did gain many ypc either."

"That sucks. Did you ever get scholarship to play at Memphis?"

"I did, but after my redshirt freshman year, I didn't see the field much. I was a 4th string quarterback and running back. I was 2nd string in terms of being a return man and I was mostly used on special teams because of my speed."

"How fast were you?"

"When my high school had our team run a mock 40, I ran a 4.4 even. So I was relatively fast."

"Did you run track or anything?"

"I did for my freshman year, but I quit the team to focus on football and band."

"That sucks. Did your high school team do well?"

"We would usually get to the playoffs, but we would get eliminated in the first or second round. We were decent at best," Mitchell leaned back and started to reminisce about his football career, "If I had more chances at running back, I probably would've been a top prospect, but since I also did marching band, I couldn't get in a position that would be n the receiving end of constant tackles. Being a return man was safer because you could always call for a fair catch, signal a touchback, or take it out of bounds."

"I guess marching band screwed you in that aspect, huh?"

"I mean, it wasn't all too bad. I loved marching band and band all together. It helped deal with my social anxiety. Believe or not, I wasn't always this outgoing," Mitchell explained, "I used to be socially awkward and actually bullied for the first 2 years of my high school career."

"What?!" A lot of the class stood shocked with even Callie looking at him with a look of shock, "How could someone bully someone like you?"

"Like I said, I wasn't always this outgoing. I would usually keep to myself and not really talk to anyone. This made me an easy target for bullying. What made it worse was it wasn't only verbal bullying. It very soon escalated to physical bullying. Uh," Mitchell quickly stood up and looked out of his classroom.

"Mr. Monceda...?"

Mitchell quickly stepped back in and sighed, "Not many know about this, but you girls are my favorite class and I trust you'll keep it in this classroom," Mitchell leaned on his desk and sternly asked, "Can I trust all of you to keep this between all of us?" Everyone nodded and Mitchell looked at Callie who also nodded, "Alright," Mitchell took off his sweater vest and proceeded to unbutton his dress shirt. He turned around as he took it off to reveal multiple scars and wounds causing the class to go silent.

Azami let out a loud gulp before finally asking, "Is that..."

"Everyday, sometimes more than once, I would be attacked by a group of bullies and they would just brutalize me without anyone knowing. They would take me to a place where there wouldn't be any witnesses and just continuously beat me, steal my valuables, and just leave me for dead. I couldn't think of a day during those two years where I wasn't brutally beaten or harassed," The class was completely speechless as Mitchell continued, "I managed to keep it from my family and so far, only prince knew about the endless bullying I faced," Mitchell turned back around and button his shirt back up.

He sat back down and sighed, "That was the darkest time of my life because I never had that experience ever. It was almost unlivable. Emphasis on _unlivable_...," Mitchell fell silent and leaned his cheek on his hand, "I did have thoughts of suicide during that time. However, the prince helped me through it and that summer after my sophomore year, I decided to break out of the shell that those bullies built around me. I made myself better and fought back against those tormentors. That's when I started to slowly mold myself into the person you see now. So in some odd, messed up way, you could thank those bullies for giving you the person you see now."

"But..."

"Don't worry though. All that is way behind me and I rarely if ever bring it up when I'm with the prince. The prince and I specifically don't talk about it which is why I want you girls to just keep it to yourselves," Just as Mitchell said this, the bell rang, "Alright, go on head to your next class. Tomorrow, I will be handing out study guides for not only your quiz Friday, but for the test at the end of the month. We'll work on the study guide together everyone," Everyone slowly walked out with the thought of Mitchell's past still fresh in their minds.

* * *

Later that night, Mitchell was laying in his bed shirtless and only a pair of basketball shorts on. He heard his phone ring and he looked to see who it was, "Hm? Oh, Anna...," He answered and went back to laying down, "What's up Anna?"

"What's wrong? You didn't come to drink with us today. Did something happen in class?"

"No. Class was fun for the most part."

"Most part? Was Callie a problem again?"

"No. Not at all. In fact, she was having fun and I saw her smile and laugh today. It felt good to see her finally break out of her shell during class."

"That's good. But then, what happened later?"

"Anna, I told them about the bullying..."

"What?!" Anna yelled causing Mitchell to move the phone from his ear, "Mitchell, I thought we agreed to keep it between us."

"I know, but this class is different. I told them because I trust them. Not only are they my favorite, but I feel like I can treat these kids the way I did with you when we met. I feel at ease when I'm with them."

"Can you trust them though?"

"Without a doubt. I told them how much it messes with me, so I strictly told them not to tell anyone else and to keep it in the classroom."

"Alright, please Mitchell, don't..."

"Anna, I'll be fine. I'll be perfectly fine."

"Okay... I'm just worried about you Mitchell. You know that..."

"I know...," As the two were talking, he heard his doorbell ring, "Uh, one sec, someone's at my door," Mitchell slowly got up and walked out of his bedroom towards his front door. The doorbell rang once more and he called out, "I hear ya'...," He opened the door to see an older woman, maybe slightly older than Ina and, "Callie?" Mitchell looked at the two and calmly said, "Anna, I'm gonna have to call you back."

"What? Mitchell?!" Before she could say more, Mitchell hung up.

He looked at the two and then at himself, "Uh, please come in and make yourself at home. I'm gonna quickly go look presentable," Both Callie and the woman walked in with Mitchell quickly closing the door and turning on the light in his living room, "I'll be right back...," Mitchell ran off leaving the two alone.

While he was gone, Callie asked the woman, "Mom, did you really know Mr. Monceda?"

"Yes, and I know of the story you told me..."

Mitchell quickly returned with a long sleeve shirt and jogging pants on, "Uh, would you two like anything to drink?"

"No, we're good, thank you..."

Mitchell nodded and took a seat near them, "So uh, is there a problem?"

"Mr. Monceda, I am Callie's mother."

"Okay, uh, Mrs. Gray..."

"Just Ms. Gray thank you. I'm a widow."

"Riiiight. Uh, sorry, Ms. Gray, is there anything you wanted to discuss about Callie?"

"Mr. Monceda, Callie here told me of your bullying story...," Mitchell stopped for a second before sighing and looking over at Callie, "But Mr..., uh, Mitchell, I just wanted to say that I do know the bullies that kept brutalizing you."

"Huh?"

"I'm the older sister of the main attacker and when Callie told me that her American Culture teacher was the same Mitchell I spoke to several years after those events, I knew I just had to meet you again."

"Wait, you're...Rachael Hill. You're the counselor I talked to after I graduated high school."

"Yes and the sister of Curtis. The main attacker of that group of bullies," Mitchell grew silent and stood up, "Mitchell..."

"No, no... it's too late for this. Look, I'm sure you wanted to see if I was still mentally stable, but I assure you, I'm perfectly fine. I'm actually happier than I could ever be."

"Mitchell, it's best to just be sure. Besides, I also wanted to see you about my daughter."

"Huh?"

"You see, after my husband passed, my brother, Curtis, took it upon himself to help take care of Callie with me financially. From time to time, he would come over and watch Callie while I was away on an errand."

"Don't tell me..."

"He would... end up beating her from time to time since he would lose himself in alcohol."

"No, no way! A man should never lay their hand a child! Especially if the child isn't even theirs!" Mitchell shouted at the top of his lung from both rage and sympathy, "How could you let that scumbag do that to your daughter?!"

"I didn't have a choice! He was the only thing keeping us afloat. Without him, we'd both be living on the streets with nothing!"

"Isn't there anyone else out there that can help? Your family, or even your late husband's family?"

"My late husband's family doesn't want anything to do with me and Callie because of my brother."

"This is insane. I've seen how sweet Callie can be. She proved it today. Hell, now I now why she has a fear of men. It's because your bastard of a brother puts his hands on her!" In the middle of Mitchell's rant, there was a doorbell at the door followed by fast knocks.

"Mitchell!" Anna's voice called out, "Please let me in!"

"Anna?" Mitchell ran to the door and quickly let her in, "Anna, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to get here as fast as I can to see what was wrong. Then I heard the yelling. What's going on?"

"I now know the reason behind Callie's fear of men..."

"Huh?"

"Damn it, Rachael tell her. I need to cool off," Mitchell walked passed Anna and left the house. He went to sit outside to leave Rachael tell Anna.

"Rachael? That counselor... oh riiiiight...," Anna turned towards the two sitting down and she noticed Callie was hiding her face, "Oh man, this is gonna be a doozy..."

* * *

Meanwhile outside, Mitchell rubbed his head trying to wrap his mind around this situation, "That man... no... he's not a man...," Before he could say more, the door behind him opened with Callie slowly walking out with her head held down, "Callie...," Mitchell softly said, "Come here," Callie slowly sat close to Mitchell with Mitchell trying to figure out what to do or say. He was still in shock that the cause of her fear of men is the same person that nearly caused him to take his life just over a decade ago.

Callie slowly leaned her head on Mitchell's shoulder which shocked him. Mitchell looked down at her and her slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and comforted her, "I guess we both have a common enemy..."

"Mr. Monceda, I never hated you. I actually enjoyed your class. Especially the first few days. You're a great teacher. You work well with my classmates, and I see why students say we're lucky to have you as our teacher..."

"Well, that says a lot to be honest. I knew you weren't a hard nut to crack and you just made a new record. It took me a week and a half to get you to warm up to me."

"I always was. I just... didn't wanna show it..."

"Because of your uncle?"

"Yes. When I heard your story... and saw your scars, I knew I had to tell my mother."

"Callie, if it's fine with your mother, if your uncle is ever looking to visit her, she's more than welcome to leave you here with me or with the prince."

"Is that fine with you and Ms. Park?"

"That matters on the conclusion of their conversation in there, but it's definitely fine with me. Like I said, I care for all of you and I don't want anyone to go through what I did. I'll be here whenever you need me..."

"Hehe...," Callie smiled and softly said, "My father did this a lot when I was younger..."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to him?"

"He was killed in car crash. It was a multi-car collision that killed him and two others."

"How long ago was this?"

"About 3 years ago..."

"So for 3 years that bastard has been beating on you?"

"Yeah..."

"I wish I could do something, but I feel like if I see him... I would just..."

"Please, Mr. Monceda...," Callie grabbed Mitchell's hand and pleaded, "Please don't try and fight or do anything to my uncle. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"But you're getting hurt. You're not even his child. He has no right to even lay a hand on you."

"I know but..."

"Callie, let's say this, if I know he puts a hand on you again, I'll take matters into my own hand."

"I..."

"That's only if I find out though. If I find out he puts his hands on you again, I will make sure he feels the same pain he made both of us feel. Only ten times worse..."

"Mr. Monceda..."

However, in the middle of their moment, a car pulled in front of Mitchell's house, "Huh?" As he tried to figure out what was going on, he felt Callie stiffen up and saw her eyes widen, "Wait, is that?"

"Hey!" A voice called out followed by multiple honks, "What are you doing with Callie!" Both Mitchell and Callie quickly stood up as a man walked up to them wearing a normal t-shirt and jeans, but with a slight slur in his words, "Again! What are you doing with her!"

"Y-You're... Curtis..."

"Huh?" The man squinted and smirked, "Oh man, you're that guy my friends and I beat up everyday in high school. Haha! I never thought I'd see your girly face again. Oh wait," The man, now confirmed as Curtis, squinted again, "you actually look like a man now."

"Can it Curtis. You need to step off my property."

"Or what? You're gonna fight me? Ha, not a chance doofus," Curtis looked at Callie who hid behind Mitchell, "Come on Callie, get your mother now. We're heading home."

"She's not going anywhere with some drunk thug. I don't care if she is your niece," Curtis stepped up to Mitchell until they were only a few feet within one another.

"That's my niece and if you think I'm gonna let you take her, then you're delusional."

"I might be, but she's deserves better than a low life thug like you."

"Low life? Ha!" Curtis stepped back laughing loudly with Callie gripping harder on Mitchell's shirt, "You may not know, so let me tell you this. Uh, you work at Callie's school right? Eagle Mountain Academy?"

"Yeah?"

"Then that makes me one of your bosses?"

"What?!"

"I'm on the School Board idiot!" Mitchell's eyes widened, but Callie wasn't phased, "If you even as so lay a finger on me or even just piss me off. You're teaching career here and anywhere else in California will go up on flames."

"But..."

"Oh, did I talk some sense into you? Yeah I did," Curtis stepped forward and attempted to reach for Callie, but Callie backed away and hid even more behind Mitchell. Curtis grew agitated and raised his hand, "You little...!" Before Curtis could even bring his hand down, Mitchell grabbed it and stared him down, "Huh?"

"You won't lay a hand on her while I'm here. You think I care if you get me fired. I'd rather lose my job than lose dignity. Besides, with my accolades at EM, I could get a teaching job anywhere."

"You bastard..."

"I won't swing though. I did make a promise to my class that I'll help them pass, so I'm not gonna endanger that by making you eat the grass," Mitchell pushed Curtis away and said, "Now get off my property before I slide you."

Curtis growled and shook his head, "I know where you live now Mitchell. I'm gonna make your life worse than what it was in high school. You may act all high and mighty now, but I'm gonna break you. You don't know what power I have in this school district!"

"And you don't know the power I hold at my school."

"Whatever!" Curtis left just as fast as he arrived.

Mitchell turned around and looked down at Callie, "Well, I don't think someone on the school board should be driving around drunk like he was."

"He's gotten in trouble for that, but he has a lot of influence on the district, so nobody can touch him."

"That's why your mom looked to him for financial assistance."

"Yeah..."

Mitchell looked towards his door and saw two figure behind the glass in the door, "They watched...," Mitchell pointed out causing Callie to turn around, "I think it was best that they did..."

"What are we gonna do about him?"

"He knows where I live, so staying here or heading back to your home is out of the question," Mitchell thought hard and waved them outside, "I have a plan..."

"Mitchell...," Anna softly started, "I probably should've mentioned to you that he became part of the school board last year."

"Yeah, but I have plan on how to handle him. Right now, he knows where I live and going back home will definitely cause some trouble. So I was wondering if you could have Rachael stay at your house and Callie at mine for the time being."

"What?" All 3 girls respond in unison.

"I know it's crazy, but it's crazier to have them go home with that bastard waiting for them there."

"Are you alright with that Ms. Gray?"

"I don't know. Callie? Are you okay on staying with Mr. Monceda?"

Callie looked at her mother and then at Mitchell, "I don't know. Since he knows where Mr. Monceda lives, he might just end up tormenting him again."

"Yeah. Not only will she be in danger, but you too Mitchell," Anna added, "And there's no way you could all crash my house. Hm, do you think Ina would let you three live at her house?"

"I'm not sure. I can call her to check. Another problem would be their necessities. Since it's all at their house..."

"Don't worry, Rachael ran towards her car and pulled out two large suitcases, "I kinda knew something like this would happen, so I made sure to pack bags in case something like this would come around."

Both Mitchell and Anna looked at each other, "Wow, she's more prepared than I was when I found out that girl cheated on me in college," Anna nodded in agreement.

* * *

About an hour or so later, Mitchell, Rachael, and Callie arrived in Ina's house carrying their bags, "Alright," Anna started, "I'll leave them in your care Ina."

"Don't worry Anna. I'll take good care of them."

"Don't say that we're like dogs or new pets for Ina," Mitchell stated, but he randomly felt someone petting his head, "Ina..."

"Aw, it's been so long since we've roomed anywhere together."

"We just took a vacation before school started!"

"I know, but that was over a month ago..."

"Hands off me woman!" Mitchell exclaimed with a Scandinavian accent, "Be gone from me!"

"You won't escape me Mitchell!" Mitchell ran from Ina who started to chase him around the house.

"Isn't she 4 years younger than you mom?" Callie asked with Rachael nodding to confirm.

* * *

Moments later, while Callie and Rachael slept in one room together, Mitchell roomed with Ina and chose to sleep on an inflatable bed. Mitchell didn't sleep at all yet. He turned towards Ina who was looking at him too, but instead of the teasing look she had earlier, she had a look of concern.

"Mitchell, are you fine with knowing that bully is working with the board?" Mitchell sighed as he sat up, "I don't like it. Just when life was getting good for you, you had to find out about that."

"I know. It's going to bring up some bad memories..."

"If you need time off work, I can look after your classes."

"No, you have yours to worry about. Don't stress yourself out by worrying about my class."

"Mitchell," Mitchell shot a glance at Ina who stared at him, "I need to worry. You're my co-worker and my friend. If there's something that's bugging you, I want to know how I can physically to help."

"Well, that's not much."

"What are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about you fighting for me or something. That's impossible for you."

"What do you mean?"

"You're a lover, not a fighter Ina. You're about as menacing as box full of puppies."

"Puppies can hurt you with their adorableness."

"No. They can at most stun you with their cuteness, but you're not a fighter Ina. Please don't try and do anything physical. If anything, I'll probably look to you for emotional support."

"Aw, I'll do my best to be your snuggle buddy."

"No... not a snuggle buddy."

"Oh whatever, go ahead and get to sleep. It is a school night."

"Right," Ina turned around and fell asleep while Mitchell remained awake. He looked towards the bedroom door and sighed, "Just gotta focus on my kids... and the cultural festival. I'll make sure to keep my mind focused on that...," Just shortly after, Mitchell fell asleep as well.


	4. Group Study Session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mitchell finds out 3 of his students are failing his class and takes matters into his own hands by scheduling a group study session with the 3 failing students and their classmates along with some help from Anna and Ina.
> 
> Mitchell also finds out that Sabrina just isn't getting and volunteers to be her personal tutor after school, but he fails to realize that Sabrina also has other goals in mind. Romantic goals.

About 2 and a half weeks after the events that transpired between Mitchell and Curtis, things were relatively normal in class. Mitchell and Callie agreed not to bring up what happened that night. Either way, the monthly test on what they learned over the month was coming fast for the class. Mitchell early in the morning scrolled through his American Culture class.

He leaned back confused as he scratched the back of his head, "This isn't right," Mitchell scrolled through multiple times seeing multiple zeros and low grades in his class, "How are these 3 girls failing?!"

* * *

After class that day, he talked to the 3 girls who were failing, "Sabrina, Kyoumi, Amina. You 3 stay for a minute," The 3 girls stepped in front of Mitchell's desk with worried looks, "I would tell you 3 to take off those worried looks, but I think you should keep them on."

"Mr. Monceda, what's going on?" Kyoumi asked, "Are we in trouble."

"Well, trouble in one way," Mitchell opened up his grade book and showed it to the girls, "You 3 are failing my class..."

"How?!" They yell in unison.

"For starters, none of have turned in any of the homework assignments I said to finish," Mitchell pointed out 4 zeroes next to their names and point low scores, "2 of you failed the quiz a week and a half ago."

"That quiz was hard..."

"We went over it before we started and I gave out 5 bonus points from the activity...," Mitchell stopped himself and took a deep breath, "Look, all you 3 have to do is turn in the homework and do well on the test Friday."

"How? That's a lot of homework."

"Look, like I said, I'm willing to help whenever you girls need it. Let's do this," Mitchell leaned back said, "Let's head off to where the prince, Ms. Moon, and I hangout after school and we'll take the whole class on a large group study session."

"Study session?"

"Yes. You girls can get help from me, Ms. Moon, or the prince. Some of classmates can help as well. Need I remind you that Azami and Callie are at the top of the class right now both of them sitting at high A's."

"When should we do this?"

"I would say today, but the class isn't here right now for me to announce that because I would also have to include the prince and Ms. Moon on it as well."

"We understand. Uh..."

"If the study session goes well, we can look into doing one before tests or quizzes."

"Why not every other day?"

"Because the adults want to have their adult times without students."

"Oh alright. Well, we'll see you tomorrow Mr. Monceda."

"Yup," Mitchell waved the 3 off and too out his phone as soon as they left. He proceeded to call someone and smirked as he did so.

* * *

That next day after school, Kyoumi was in her host family's house looking over her homework until she heard multiple honks come from outsider her house, "Huh?" She looked out her bedroom window and smirked when she saw a BMW 7 Series outside her house, "What in the world?" She received a text from an unknown number that says, "Get dressed, it's studying time," She soon saw Mitchell step out of the car and lean on the passenger side door. He looked at his watch and sighed. Kyoumi smiled brightly as she rushed to get ready.

Moments later, Kyoumi called out to her host family, "I'll be back later! I'm off on my study session with my class!" Without even waiting for a response, Kyoumi ran outside to meet Mitchell, "Hey Mr. Monceda!"

"Hey there Kyoumi. I was worried I got the wrong house and I was actually in front of the house of some burat."

"Huh?"

"Nope, you're too young. Now get in. We have other failing students to pick up," Mitchell went in his car with Kyoumi quickly moving to the backseat. Mitchell looked towards the back and raised an eyebrow, "Why don't you sit up front?"

"I just thought you wouldn't want me to since I'm too young."

"Too young? You're 14. You may be young to learn somw raunchy, foreign swear words, but to sit in the passanger seat. Come on to the front," Mitchell ushered her to the passenger seat and she reluctantly moved to the front seat, "Don't be too nervous now. I promise that it won't be a problem."

"Okay..."

"Just ease up now," Mitchell quickly drove off and looked at his GPS, "Next is Sabrina...," Moments later, Mitchell honked outside with Sabrina quickly running out, "She must've been waiting..."

"Hi Mr. Monceda!" Sabrina waved frantically, but proceeded to trip on her shoe and fall onto the grassy front yard. Kyoumi was about to get out to help, but Mitchell stopped her.

"She's fine," And like Mitchell said, Sabrina quickly hopped up and dusted her dress off, "Told ya'."

"I'm alright everyone!" Sabrina quickly hopped in the back seat and was hopping with joy, "Oh man! I can't wait for this study session with everyone! Whoo-hoo!"

"Calm down there Sabrina. We have to get the last failing student," Mitchell quickly drove off and during the drive, Mitchell noticed Sabrina looking around in his car, "Trying to find something Sabrina?"

"I'm just surprised you have such a nice car despite being a teacher."

"Man, why do you always roast us teachers? Teachers have feelings too. How 'bout instead of Black Lives Matter, we have Teacher Lives Matters?"

"Because it doesn't roll off the tongue."

"Yeah you're right. The only thing we roll off of well is uh... damn. I don't have a joke."

"Uh oh. Mr. Monceda doesn't have a joke for us."

"It's hard coming up with your own cheesy jokes. I guess I'm out of fuel right now."

"Why not look one up?"

"That's not right. Jokes are suppose to come from yourself. I'm not Carlos Mencia," Mitchell sighed as he looked at Kyoumi who ducked her head to hide, "Kyoumi, what are you doing?"

"I don't want to be caught sitting in the passenger seat. I just feel nervous sitting here."

"Don't be. I assure you, everything is alright."

"Really though Mr. Monceda," Sabrina interrupted, "you dress nicer when you're not at school."

"Man, I'm always so proud when I wear my clothes to school. I feel professional and a lot of women ogle at me whenever I stop by somewhere after school."

"I mean, they're not wrong to do so, but you seem so much more natural when you wear casual clothes," Sabrina looked Mitchell up and down and chuckled, "Hehe, I can see why women would want to get a piece of you."

"Well, I can't wear casual clothes to school. Teachers must follow a certain dress code or they'll be written up."

"Have you ever been written up Mr. Monceda?"

"Yeah once, but it was more like the prince issuing a warning to me for forgetting her b-day."

"Ooo, why did you forget?"

"Because, it was my first year working at this school and every class hated me. I was trying to get every class to listen and get on track. My plate was kinda full."

"Has she forgiven you for it?"

"I think I was forgiven on our after-school trip that Summer if you remember my story from a few weeks ago," That's when both girls nodded with light blushes on their faces, "I'm glad you girls were mature about me telling that story. Most kids your age would be like 'Ew, why would you say that?!' and it would be very annoying."

"Well, we kinda expected it then. It was obvious that's what that story was leading too. I mean come on. Two drunk people waking up the next morning cuddling. There's only one thing that led to that."

"Exactly. Although, I've never told any other class this story. This is mostly because they weren't as interested in my personal life as all of you. I would tell them stories if we had time after class or on Friday's when it was close to the end of class."

"Are we special?"

"Kinda," Mitchell slowly stopped in front of another house and honked his car, "Think about it, you girls are extremely concentrated in class. Despite you two and Amina failing, all of you listen and are very content in class. It's very nice to have a class that listens and participates."

"Well, isn't that what a class is suppose to do?"

"Sometimes, but other times, the class would take advantage of my lenient class environment and try to take over."

"Has that happened?"

"No. Thankfully it hasn't happened. I managed to gain control before it did, but every year, I'm always blinded by my classes. You girls might get rowdy sometimes, but you control yourselves when I tell all of you to tone it down. It would take an arm and a leg to gain control of my past classes."

Shortly after, Amina joined Sabrina in the backseat sighing deeply, "Sorry, I was trying to find the right stuff to wear. I'm ready," She looked around with the car awkwardly silent, "Did I ruin something?"

"Mr. Monceda was talking about how great of a class we are," Sabrina answered with a short snicker.

"Are we?" Amina questioned, "I thought all of your classes were like that."

"They were," Kyoumi explained, "But Mr. Monceda said that they took advantage of his teaching style and would try to take over his class."

"You were able to regain your classes though, right?"

"Yup. Don't worry," Sabrina wrapped her arm around Amina and reassured her, "Our teacher gained control back and made sure nobody took advantage of him again."

"I'm glad all of you haven't taken advantage yet. Usually, students wouldn't be too keen on spending their after-school time with more learning when they could rest, study a little, and just goof off for the remainder of the day."

"It's not like that in Japan," Kyoumi started, "In Japan, any after-school activities, like going out with friends is frowned upon. Since your life in Japan is determined based on how well you do in school and what university you graduate from, studying is the quintessential life of a student."

"Wow, I mostly goofed off after school," Mitchell explained, "If I ever studied, it was usually in a group because it was more fun that way."

"Study groups are common in Japan if someone is having trouble with certain subject collectively, they would gather together to help each other out."

"Well, that's exactly what we're doing today. Most of the students will already be there since the prince, Ms. Moon, or their parents took them there already."

"Why are we last?"

"Because, like the 3 of you, I had to figure out what I had to wear. You think I like wearing what I wear to school. Yeah I look good, but I feel so much more comfortable wearing casual clothing. In fact, ask Callie how I dress at home and she'll say I'm super casual and relaxed."

"We forgot the 2 of you were living with Ms. Moon. It's so weird that both of you had fumigation going on at your house."

"Uh yeah," Mitchell chuckled as he didn't really tell the class the truth on why Callie, Rachael, and himself were living with Ina, "They called me to stay at my house, but I had the same problem."

"I'm more surprised with how quickly she warmed up to you. I wanted to give her a few more weeks, but she exceeded my expectations," Sabrina added, "It's cool though. It's nice to see her act herself when she's in class now."

"I'm glad you told me of her fear. With the prince's help, we were able to assess her situation."

"We're just glad she warmed up."

"It helped her turn her grade around, now she's just below Azami on the highest grade in class."

"Those two are rivals in terms of grades. They even made a bet with each other on who has the highest grade in this class at the end of the semester."

"Oh really? What happens when one of them wins."

"That's for us to know and you to find out," Kyoumi, Sabrina, and Anami chuckled with one another confusing Mitchell, "It's something they're gonna work extremely hard for."

"Okay. Oh, here we are," Mitchell pulled up to the restaurant where he meets up with Anna and Ina after school for a little bit, "Now, it is small, but it's big enough for our class. Also, stay away from the bar. Don't even think about going over there, okay?"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Moments later, the entire class were helping each other study with Mitchell, Anna, and Ina watching over them, "Well, this is our day out."

"Yeah, and we're stuck not having alcohol like Anna...," Ina stated with a slight sigh.

"Now you 2 will understand how it feels when you can't drink alcohol."

"Well, it is only once per week so, we'll just suffer together once a week."

"Are we gonna help them? It doesn't look like Azami and Callie can do it all alone."

"Well, there are 3 of us. 2 of us having experience in teaching history while one has experience in teaching English."

"What?! I can teach history," Anna exclaimed, "I'll prove it. You two, split up!" Anna quickly went off to help whatever student she could.

Mitchell leaned on the bar counter and looked over at Ina, "You wanna just see her crash and burn knowing this is a culture course and not a history course?"

"Do I even need to answer?" The two bumped fists as they watched Anna running around attempting to help the students.

* * *

Later that night as Mitchell took each girl home, Sabrina was rather silent while the other 2 were being dropped off. It was only until she was the last person to be driven that Mitchell decided to ask her, "Sabrina, you're abnormally quiet. What's up?"

With a big and frustrated sigh, she answered, "I'm just not getting it. Everything just seems to fly by my head."

"I would understand that. This is a lot of information to take in along with a big culture shock for you. Remember though, not only am I here to help, but your friends as well."

"I know, but if I could, can I try and get some extra help from you?"

"Uh, yeah? I already said that I'm here to help."

"I mean as a tutor. Not just during the study group."

"Well, can you stay after school at the library?"

"I can."

"Alright, just notify my before class starts that you would want to stay after school for some extra tutoring."

"I will."

"Alright, now smile. Seeing you like this just doesn't feel right with me."

"Haha, well, it's also probably because I'm tired and my brain is kinda fried from studying."

"Ah, well, here you go," Mitchell stopped in front of Sabrina's house, "Get some rest," Sabrina nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt. She grabbed her bag and look at Mitchell, "Go on now."

"Thank you Mr. Monceda," Sabrina left his car and waved Mitchell off before walking towards her house. Mitchell stayed to make sure she got home safely all the while Sabrina hugged her book bag, "Man... that was my chance to at least give a hint that I like him...," Sabrina looked over her shoulder just slightly and sighed heavily, "No, I gotta focus on my work. If anything, he'll like it more if I try hard and pass his class with an A," Sabrina took a deep breath and turned around towards Mitchell's car who was still watching her. She vigorously waved at Mitchell before going back into her house.

Mitchell chuckled as he gripped his steering wheel, "Don't worry Sabrina. Like I said, I've never had a failing student and I'm not gonna let that bastard Curtis get in my way," And with that, Mitchell drove away.


	5. Test Results and American Football

The Monday after the test, the class stood anxious to see their results. Mitchell leaned on his desk holding a stack of papers, "Whew, Friday was a doozy with this first test, but I think you girls will like the scores. When I call your name, I will give you the choice to let me say it out loud, or you can come here to retrieve it yourself," The class nodded and Mitchell moved along, "Alright, first, Amani. Call it out, or will you come up here?"

"You can call it out...," Amani softly answered.

"Okay. Amani, you made a high B. You got an 88."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. Great job. You initially had a 78, but you got the 10 point bonus question right and that boosted your score to an 88."

"Oh..."

"It's passing, but you were saved by a bonus question. Don't worry though, we'll address what you missed at the next group study session," Amani nodded and Mitchell continued, "Azami. You're next."

"You can go ahead and say it out loud," Azami looked over to Callie with a smug look, "I know I did well."

"Alright. A little arrogance is healthy," Mitchell chuckled and looked at Azami, "Was there ever any doubt that you would get an A. 104 on your test," Azami smiled brightly, but Mitchell shot her down, "However, you originally had a 94. You answered 2 bonus questions correctly. We're gonna have to look into what you missed."

"Aw..."

"It's alright, you did extremely well," Mitchell gave Azami reassured her with a smile before continuing, "Alright, now Belise," Mitchell turned to a girl about the same height as Azami and had short brown hair.

"Yes sir Mr. Monceda?" Belise had a mix of a English and American accent, "How'd I do?"

"Well, you made a low B. You made an 82. Just 2 from a C. You only answered the 10 point bonus question which brought your grade up from a 72 to an 82. That still would've been a C and passing, but it's not what I'm liking."

"Oh..."

"Now don't fret. I've been taking notes on what everyone's been missing. Now, Callie," Callie shot up and stood stiff in her chair, "I'm very impressed with you as well, but it's expected from the number one in the Freshman Class."

"What'd I make?"

"Same as Azami. The both of you answered the same bonus questions correctly, but some of your answers were different."

"Huh?"

"It was odd when I was grading them last night despite a certain someone trying to get a peak at their grade early," Mitchell shot an accusing glance at Callie who whistled and turned away, "Anyway, that's actually the same pattern with everyone. A lot of you had the same grades with the bonus questions helping you out. Well, all of you, except for one," Mitchell flipped through the stack of papers and pulled out one before putting the rest on his desk, "This one student worked hard for this grade. She stayed after school for the two days before this test to have me tutor her personally."

Sabrina sat in the front smiling brightly as Mitchell walked towards her desk and placed his hand on it, "Sabrina pushed herself hard. Harder than I would've expected and she's earned this grade. She got a perfect score."

"What?!" Sabrina jumped up and grabbed her test from Mitchell's hand, "No way!" Sabrina jumped up and down while everyone, especially Azami and Callie looked on in shock, "I made a 120!"

"That's right. You got every question correct including the bonus questions."

"H-How...?" Both Azami and Callie ask in unison.

"For the 2 days before the test after our group session, Sabrina asked me to personally tutor her. We spent nearly 2-3 hours studying and making sure the lessons were implanted into her mind. It took some time, but she pushed herself to make a good grade. I just didn't expect her to get a perfect score."

"I studied my butt off for this test. I wanted to not only impress my classmates, but I wanted to impress you too Mr. Monceda. I haven't been all too great in school, and I wanted to impress you because you have inspired to do well in school. I've gotten an A on tests for my other classes."

"Really now? I didn't think I would have. Haha, I'm glad I did though because Ms. Moon has told me that you had a D in her class. Uh, how?"

"I'm sorry. Like I said, I never focus in school, but I'm going to try my best to improve my grade."

"Well, this test, along with your homework being turned in has brought your grade up to a high C. Even if you did smash this test, I still had to take off points on your homework assignments because they were late. Still, if you can do this well on this test, I can without a doubt say that you will on future tests."

"Hehe, I will Mr. Monceda!"

"As for the rest of your grades, I'll just hand them out and talk about the upcoming Cultural Festival Wednesday. There are some stuff that haven't been said about it."

"Like what?" Azami questioned, "Some of the Japanese students and I have already prepared what we'll be doing."

"Well for starters, I know most of you know that it's a 3 day event. It starts next Wednesday and ends on Friday Night.

"Night? It's all day?"

"Yeah. It's a big event that includes people outside of our school. Parents, citizens, even some more notable people come here sometimes."

"Like celebrities?!" Sabrina exclaimed, "Athletes?!"

"Yeah. Especially this year since our school has branched and thanks to your favorite teacher, we were able to prepare something that I will also be taking part in."

"What is it?!" The class riled up as Mitchell chuckled, "Tell us!"

"Well, I can't give it away until it's announced, but I can say that it's physical and something that I've been looking forward to since we started the school year," The class 'Ooed' at what MItchell as he continued, "But right now, I can break down the schedule and what's planned so far," Once Mitchell handed out the final test, he walked to his table and pulled out a small packet, "For day one, this is mostly for introductions and polishing anything that wasn't done the day before. Since this starts after school at 3, the first half is used to set everything up properly."

"Oh okay," Kyoumi started, "So the first day is for possibly us to get stuff ready and maybe see how some of the other booths are, right?"

"That's right. This also allows some of the staff to help out while others prepare for guests."

"Ah..."

"Day 2 is when stuff gets real. Again, for the start though, students will have until 2 o'clock to have fun at booths and some courtyard activities. While this is happening, that's when the surprise is being prepared in the soccer field behind the school."

"Will you be helping out there?"

"Sadly yes. I won't be walking around during the festival to see all of you," The class was visibly distraught at Mitchell not being there on day 2, "Don't worry though, you will see me later that day and the day after that."

"What happens on day 3?" Callie asked.

"On day 3, everyone has a chance to check the booths out and have a great time. So all of you will be able to see me cruising along the festival."

"Ooo!" Sabrina shot her hand up, "You should come over to the French booth! We have something cooking up there."

"I'll definitely check out everyone's booth. Day 3 is my cheat day, so I'm gonna be ready to stuff my face with whatever food everyone makes," Mitchell looked back down at the packet and chuckled, "As for day 3, I love day 3. Day 3 starts off as usual, but at 4:30, the concert starts."

"You're performing, right?" Callie asked, "A lot of us have been wondering if you are or not."

Mitchell remained quiet as his class all stared at him. He chuckled and answered, "I will be performing. I've been spending time practicing the songs I might be performing. I think you girls will like it."

"Yes! We can't wait!" Sabrina exclaimed, "Can you give us a hint what you might be performing."

"Uh, well, it kinda depends on which sounds better. Callie might know since I've be practicing at home, but I'll specifically tell not to give out any hints to all of you."

"Uh...," Callie raised her hand and asked, "What if it's too good to not tell anyone?"

"Don't tell anyone. It has to be a surprise."

"Oh fine..."

"Don't worry. It'll totally be worth it for everyone," Mitchell put the packet down and leaned on his desk, "This week, a lot of the teachers will be laid back. Well, everyone and Ms. Santiago. So next week, we'll just have fun talking about more stories, but if you guys wanna learn more about this country, then by all means."

"Mr. Monceda," Amani raised her hand, "I remember you talking about your football career in high school and I wanted to know about the sport of American football."

"Really now?"

"Oh yeah," Sabrina added, "Most of us watch it, but there are some rules and regulation that we don't even know. Most of us decided that who better to teach it than you, a former player."

"Right, well, what do you wanna know first?"

"Well, how does a quarterback deliver a play in the huddle and how do they learn their play changing?"

"Nice. Luckily, I was a quarterback on the JV team in high school, so let me explain a play I remember from high school. Um, a play can be called: G Brown 74 Hoss X-Follow. That sounds like a bunch of jumbled up garbage, but let me break this down," Mitchell walked over to the board and began to write out the play he just called out.

"G stands for gun. That's the formation the players must be in. It can be said as G, I, Strong I, or I believe single. My mind is kinda boggled on it all, so I might not be right on that account. Anyway, 'Brown' is an empty formation. This means there is no running back there to block or receive the ball. Just some wideouts and in some cases, a tight end. That's actually where 'Right' comes into play."

"I heard that tells where the blockers should mainly block, right?" Callie answered.

"Not exactly. This tells which side the tight end should be on. The terms '74' explains that there is empty protection. I'll explain more detail on that in a bit, but let me explain the rest of this play. Next, 'HOSS' determines the route the receivers must take. That is kind of word combination of a Hitch and Seam. A hitch is a short hook route and a vertical route down the seam is, well, a seam between 2 or more coverage spots. X-Follow is a type of combo route where one receiver runs an out route while another receiver follows on an in-route."

"Oh..."

"This play I wrote out is a general look the play would have. It's a rough draft of it, but it's basically the same thing."

"Are all plays called out like that?"

"Oh yeah. Quarterbacks have such a hard job to memorize an entire playbook and memorize the play calling. The same thing goes for changing the play at the line, or calling an audible."

"How does a quarterback call an audible?" Kyoumi asked.

"Audible are usually done quick through word codes that the quarterback must have his teammates know. These can be textbook audibles, but there have been some funny, yet efficient audibles. Matthew Stafford, quarterback of the Detroit Lions once called Travolta as an audible. The commentators were joyed and wanted to know what 'Travolta' would be, and it ended up in a housecall," The class lightly laughed as Mitchell continued, "Also, a quarterback's cadence is very important as well."

"Their cadence?"

"Yeah, it's when they yell 'Green 80! I said Green 80! Hut! Hike!' or something of the sort. If a quarterback has a good cadence that can be used to the advantage of their coach. Like a fake snap. This is when a quarterback calls a dead play by using their strong cadence to force the defense to jump the snap and cause a penalty. I love those plays and I just love seeing them executed perfectly."

"Have you done them in high school?"

"Not really. I wasn't a starting QB. I was a 3rd string QB and RB. I was mostly used as a returner, so I never really made calls like this unless it was for memorization in practice or with the other quarterbacks."

"Aw..."

"Yeah, but I managed to retain some of my knowledge," Mitchell took a seat at his desk and cleared his throat, "Anyway, is there anything else about football that you girls would like to know."

"I wanna know about what legal hits are," Kyoumi asked as she shot her hand up, "I've seen some videos online about those hard hits football players take. Does all that protection really protect you from those nasty hits?"

"Well, some hits are illegal. This is what's known as targeting and will result in the player performing the hit being ejected and 15 yards charged again the player's team. In the NFL, a player can also be fined if that happens and in worse cases, suspended."

"How does one know what those hits are?"

"A rule implemented last year was the head-tuck rule. That's when a player cannot lower their head to initiate contact with both player's helmets. This rule prevents the tackler from injuring who they're tackling and injuring themselves."

"Can I add something?" Callie asked as she shot her hand up in which Mitchell nodded for her to continue, "Illegal hits also take effect when hitting defenseless players. This can include quarterbacks who are sliding, returners who haven't become a runner yet etc. A defenseless player is pretty self-explanatory."

"Right. Callie is right. I've been on the receiving end on some hits like those. Usually they're not bad. Most of the time they're accidental, but other times, it's obvious they're trying to take you out of the game."

"Were you ever injured?" Callie questioned.

"A few times, but not for an entire game. Only for a quarter or two."

"Good. It'd suck if we heard that you got hurt from playing football," Amina added, "Have you ever thought of going back into football?"

"Well, I play in a spring league."

"You do?!" The class exclaimed.

"Yeah. It's a small league that only consists of 8 teams. 4 from NorCal and 4 from SoCal. I play for the Long Beach Blaze as the starting running back and return specialist."

"No way! You should've told us sooner!" Sabrina yelled, "When do your practices or mini camps start?"

"Training Camp starts in March and the league starts in Mid-April."

"Yahoo!" Sabrina jumped up with some of her classmates laughing, "That's just in time for us to catch a few games before we head back home!"

"Yeah. Would you girls like to hear some of my stats for the league?"

"Yeah!" They all agreed.

"Okay well, in the 3 years I've been in the league, I was named League MVP last year. I ran for 1,492 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. I also received for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns."

"How many yards per carry did you have?" Callie asked.

"I averaged 7.4 yards per carry. I wasn't a receiver, so I didn't gain many receiving yards."

"What about your returns?"

"I averaged 45.6 yards per return on kicks and 55.2 on punts. I totaled 8 return touchdowns and was the 2nd best returner that year."

"Did your team win the championship or something?"

"We lost in overtime. We gave up 10 points in the 4th quarter which caused it to tie up into overtime. We lost 24-21."

"Aw, has your team not won a championship yet?"

"No. I've won yearly awards and stuff, but not a championship yet."

"Aw. That sucks," Most of the class agreed while Mitchell chuckled.

"But I don't really care if I don't win a championships. There have been plenty of great players who are still great despite never winning a championship title or something."

"True, but it is nice to just have that one big win in your career, right?"

"While that's very true, I don't really care for big wins. I mostly joined this league for fun and some leisure when it's closing in on the end of the year. I've had tons of fun with the league when I was signed."

"Is there a draft for this league?"

"Yeah. There's 4 rounds 16 rounds. It gives teams to draft twice in a round or once if someone traded for their pick."

"Were you drafted?"

"No. I went undrafted and was signed to 3 teams before I signed with the Long Beach Blaze. I was on their practice squad for the first 3 games before I got promoted to their main roster when the starting return man didn't perform well."

"Is this why you didn't get much recognition in the first season?"

"Yeah. I was only really used on special teams because of my speed and agility. When the next season rolled around, I earned the starting role for running back and returner. My career just went up from there."

"That's so cool," Azami softly ooed, "Too bad we won't be able to watch the games."

"The games are streamed on YouTube, but I guess it would be hard to catch because of timezones."

"When are the games?"

"Every Saturday running from around 8:30 that morning to about 10 o'clock that night. It's good for me since our games aren't on school days or nights. But that usually isn't a problem since the games go into the summer."

"Oh. Man, that's late at night for us," Kyoumi groaned.

"Well, the early morning games are, but there are some night games I might play which is a perfect time for all of you."

"I'll only be able to catch morning games," Sabrina added with Amani nodding in response, "Well, too bad we all won't be able to watch it together, but we'll still be able to support you."

"That's sweet," Before Mitchell could add anything else, the bell rang signalling the end of class, "Alright everyone, remember, tomorrow is the preparation for the fair. So you won't be reporting to class tomorrow. You'll only be setting everything up."

"Aw. We won't be able to see our favorite teacher," Sabrina groaned.

"You'll still see me every now and then. Remember, you'll need to report to the auditorium to be informed on the schedule and to check in with your homeroom teacher to make sure you're present. If you're late, report to the main office, and they'll excuse you."

"Yes sir!" Everyone responded while waving off to their teacher.

* * *

Later at that day, once school was over and the campus was clear, Mitchell stood outside on the soccer field that was surrounded by a track field and rather large stands for spectators on both sides of the field. He had basketball shorts while wearing a tight, long-sleeve performance shirt. He threw the duffel bag on the ground and walked back to a truck that was parked near the field. He took out an agility ladder and laid it out on the field.

He proceeded to take out some dummy bags and placed them on the field apart from one another. He closed the truck and sat next to his duffel bag. He took out some footballs, cleats, and some gloves. Once he situated himself, he nodded and stood up. He loosened himself up with some stretches before going to town on the agility ladder.

He spent an hour in the Long Beach heat going to town on his agility and footwork training. Another hour passed before he was completely winded and laid on the ground. He stared at the sky before until he heard, "Mr. Monceda!"

Mitchell slowly sat up and looked behind him to see 5 of his students waving at him. Azami, Kyoumi, Sabrina, Amina, and Callie ran over to him as he stood back up, "I didn't expect to see you girls. How long were all of you there?"

"For about an hour," Azami answer, "You looked amazing."

"Uh, thanks..."

"You totally killed it out here!" Sabrina exclaimed, "Do you do this everyday?"

"No. Well, not during this time of the year. I usually start training in February before camps begin."

"Why did you start training now?" Kyoumi questioned.

"Uh," Mitchell scratched the back of his head and answered, "I would say it was partially due to what we talked about in class, but there's more to it than just that."

"What is it?"

"Uh. It's nothing to it. It's nothing really concerning. Part of me just wanted to polish up on some skills since the last season."

Moments later, Anna arrived with Ina next to her, "Uh, everyone," She started, "Is there a reason, apart from watching Mr. Monceda here, as to why you're all here?"

"No. No other reason," Amani answered, "Callie told us what he was doing since he left their house with all that equipment. We thought we'd have our parents drop us off to see what he was doing."

"And I'm guessing the same is with you Ina?" She nodded in response to Mitchell's question, "Well, look, you 5 should just head on home now. I'm exhausted and I don't think I'm gonna do any more reps."

"Oh alright," They groaned. All, but Callie waved him off with the 3 remaining people with him sighed.

"What?" Mitchell questioned.

"You're trying to see if you can still cut and stuff after that injury last year, right?" Anna asked with Mitchell giving a small nod, "How does it feel?"

"Definitely not like how it did when I first injured it. I feel more smooth since the actual injury."

"What happened exactly?" Callie asked, "I only know that he had a nasty knee injury last season and he was out for the remainder of the season."

"Yeah. He sprained his ACL and MCL. It was the 6th game of the season and Mitchell had a wave of momentum going into that game. One wrong hit to his knee dubbed him out for the season. It wasn't pretty."

"He had to go through some rehabilitation, but was relatively fine enough to go on our staff trip. Still, Mitchell... I..."

"Don't say it in front of her. She doesn't need to know yet."

"What don't I need to know yet?"

"Just something that's not necessary for you to know right now. Look," Mitchell took his keys out and handed them to Callie, "Go ahead and start my truck and wait here, okay?"

"Alright...," Callie took the keys and walked over to Mitchell's truck.

Mitchell turned to Anna and Ina before sighing, "Look, this is only for one game. You two know that."

"But you're the main part of the Blaze's offence. You know they try to hand it off to you as much as they can."

"Well, I can't control what our play scheme is. Besides, this isn't a real game, you know that. This is just purely for fun and entertainment for the students."

"We're just worried Mitchell," Ina started, "The injury wasn't as bad as everyone thought, but what if it's worse the next time it happens?"

"Then I'll work through it. Many great players recover from season ending injuries and they always come back to completely dominate the field again."

"Still..."

"Look you two, this is my dream. I want to play good enough here to possibly get a shot at the NFL. I need to do what I can to get my chance."

"Well, just take care of yourself."

"I will, don't worry..."

Now comes the beginning of the Cultural Festival. A time of relaxation for Mitchell and his class...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter will be uploaded that is too long and too elaborate to be put in an Author's Note. It will go over some key info on Mitchell's Spring Football league that I took the time to work for maybe 4-5 hours yesterday. Anyway, enjoy the chapter as the next one will go up extremely soon.


	6. Extra Notes (Crucial To Story)

_I wanted to add this chapter to kinda give my own notes on Mitchell's Spring Football League. I spent about maybe 4-5 hours yesterday creating everything from the teams to a good playbook in the video game Madden 12. Since Madden 12 is the most recent Madden game I have that will allow you to create teams. I spent a lot of time last night to make this somewhat accurate. Take note everything isn't accurate._

_So in these notes, I will go over the league standings during Mitchell's 3rd year in this Spring League and the games his team played during that time._

League Standings (During Mitchell's 3rd Year):

SoCal Division:

1st. Long Beach Blaze (Mitchell's Team): 5-3 (3-1)

2nd. Los Angeles Hawks: 5-3 (3-1)

3rd. Pasadena Devils: 3-5 (2-2)

4th. San Diego Sharks: 1-7 (0-4)

NorCal Division:

1st. Sacramento Bandits: 7-1 (4-0)

2nd. Oakland Atoms: 7-1 (3-1)

3rd. Fresno Crocs: 4-4 (2-2)

4th. San Jose Killer Bees: 2-6 (1-3)

Long Blaze Schedule:

1\. LBB vs SAB: 64-35 (W)

2\. LBB vs LAH: 45-24 (W)

3\. LBB at OA: 35-17 (L)

4\. LBB vs SDS: 55-14 (W)

5\. LBB vs SJKB: 45-10 (W)

6\. LBB vs FC: 35-24 (L)

7\. LBB at PD: 24-7 (W)

8\. LBB at LAH: 24-21 (L)


	7. Cultural Festival: Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1 of the Cultural Festival has arrived with a lot of students still setting up their booths. Mitchell hadn't been seen that day as he was outside on the soccer field with a few other men with plenty equipment. He had a clipboard in his hand as he directed traffic on the soccer field. Anna met up with him during the process

"Hey, make sure the lines are the right distance apart. I don't want to be confused when we start."

"How's it coming together Mitchell?" Anna asked.

"It's going fine. We'll have this set before tomorrow if we continue at the pace we're going."

"That's good. Your students have tried to get me to reveal what it is, but I've kept my lips sealed."

"Good. The last thing I want is for the to bombard me with questions about it."

"Wouldn't they be excited if they knew either way?"

"True, but I wouldn't want them to die from excitement though. Imagine that in the news. A group of students die from heart attacks after getting overly excited about seeing their favorite teacher playing in a scrimmage football game."

"That does sound like quite the headline for the newspaper."

"It is, but I don't want to be the direct cause of it. Look, just make sure to emphasize that this back area is off-limits to all students."

"That's fine. All of the students are tending to their booths right now. Uh, do you need anything while I'm out there?"

"No," Mitchell turned and pointed out a bag on his back, "I have a camelbak on me right now. So don't worry about being dehydrated."

"Alright, don't forget about your lunch though. You, me, and Ina are suppose to have lunch today."

"I know and every other day during the Cultural Festival. Don't worry, I didn't forget Anna," Mitchell stated as he took a big sip from his camel back, "Man, water is such a great thing to drink."

"Don't drink too much."

"How can you drink too much water?" Mitchell asked, "I always drink a lot of water."

"I'm just saying. Anyway, I'm gonna go check on the students. A lot of their booths and activities are really over the top this year."

"Alright. Tell any of my students that I look forward to stuffing my face with their food," Anna waved Mitchell off as he sighed, "Man, I can't wait to stuff my face with some food Friday. I want to eat so much that it'll put me on my death bed. When the morgue cuts me open, I want the whole place to smell like takoyaki and some croquettes."

"Hi Mr. Monceda," Mitchell looked beside him to see Sabrina smiling at him, "We're making some croquettes if you'd like some."

"Uh, maybe later Sabrina. Wait Sabrina!" Mitchell quickly turned to Sabrina who waved at him. He quickly pushed her away from the soccer field and talked to her, "How much did you see?"

"Well, I see the field goal and I see some men spraying hashes on the field. Looks like you're setting up for a football game."

"Man, for a girl who was failing earlier last month, you sure know how to explain everything after only seeing it for a few seconds," Mitchell looked passed Sabrina and sighed, "So much for keeping this area off limits Anna."

"I just waited for her to leave before I walked over to here," Mitchell nodded and turned around, "Well, with what you did the other day after school, this seemed kinda obvious anyway."

"Okay uh, so you know now that my team and another team from my spring league will be playing a game tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. I made that assumption too."

"You're not gonna hop around with excitement are you?"

"Not right now, but I will when I walk off."

"Look Sabrina, how much do you want to keep this a secret from anyone else?"

"No, I won't say anything. Not unless I cut a deal."

"Is this deal legal?"

"It is don't worry. I just wanted you to help me out a little more with some work."

"I thought I said that you can get my help anytime. What's different this time?"

Sabrina turned around and twirled her hair, "Well, uh, it's a big project for Ms. Moon's class. I need a little help with the research and the actual project itself."

"Can't that be done here?"

"Well, not all of it of course. I was wondering if you could come to my house to help me out with it. My host mom said it would be fine for you to come over to help me with it."

"Uh, well if it's fine with your host parent or guardian, then I guess it wouldn't hurt. When is this project due? Wait, I thought your history class was with Ms. Santiago?"

"I transferred out last week. Luckily, Ms. Moon helped me catch up to where her class is and the project is due at the end of the month. Oh, but Ms. Moon also said she would give extra credit for those that are turned in early."

"Okay, so you want to turn it early. I get it. Well, don't worry. I'll stop by this weekend to help you work on it. I hope this is the only thing you want in order to keep your lips sealed, right?"

"Yup!" Sabrina gave Mitchell a very bright smile, "This is all I wanted Mr. Monceda. Thanks!" Sabrina quickly turned around and skipped off.

"Oh, and please bring over a croquette!"

"Will do!" Mitchell chuckled as he went right back to work.

* * *

Once the first day went and gone, the next day came extremely quickly. The courtyard was packed with hundreds of people. There many families of the transfer students along with some other families from the community.

Azami was in pure awe while watching from the classroom window where her and Kyoumi set up with the other Japanese students, "Wow Kyoumi, look at all the people," Kyoumi joined Azami at the window and was amazed too, "Look at them all..."

"Whew, we're gonna be in for quite the day. Remember though, at 3:00, we'll have to wrap everything up so we can make it to the soccer field. They've done a real good job of hiding it from us."

"Yeah..."

"Uh girls...," Both Azami and Kyoumi turned around to see Callie in a traditional yukata, "Did I put this on right?"

"Yeah, you did fine."

"Okay good. I made sure to look up and study a lot of videos online to make sure I would put it on correctly," Callie squirmed around in it and sighed, "It's quite hard to walk in, isn't it?"

"You get used it. Don't worry. You look great."

"Too bad Mr. Monceda won't see it. He's out in the back still."

"He'll see it tomorrow though. He'll see all of us tomorrow," Kyoumi reassured, "I hope we saved some of the best food for tomorrow. He did say he wanted to stuff his face silly with a lot of food."

"Yeah, but we can't let him get sick. We'll have to control what he eats," Both Kyoumi and Azami nodded.

Outside, Azami noticed a 2 large charter buses driving around to the back of the school, "Uh, those are some big buses," Callie and Kyoumi joined her at the window to see the buses parking in the side parking lot, "What are those."

"Those are charter buses. Oh man, that means we're having quite the crowd today. Let's buckle down and get ready," Azami nodded and walked off with Callie.

However, once the bus opened, a lot of men walked out carrying backpacks and were dressed rather nicely. One other person started to unload the lower compartment of the bus and threw out multiple travel bags, "Uh, are guests allowed to have large bags like those?"

Again, the other two arrived to peak outside, "Uh, that's odd..."

"You know," Azami started, "Earlier, I saw a truck arrive earlier and it drove towards the back. Uh..."

"This is weird..."

* * *

Later that day, once everyone sat situated on the soccer field, Mitchell's class knew exactly what was going on. With the field goal posts at the ends of the soccer field and the field with hashes on it spelled it out clearly for the girls, "So this is what he hid from us that day," Amina chuckled while looking down and up the field, "This means he's playing today."

"Yeah and this also explains those charter buses we saw earlier," Kyoumi added, "This is gonna be awesome. Not only do we get to see Mr. Monceda play, we get to see him play live."

"This is gonna be awesome!" Sabrina yelled at the top of her lungs causing the rest of the crowd to cheer with her.

"Well, you can always count on Sabrina to hype up the crowd."

"Alright crowd," An announcer started, "I want you to get on your feet for Eagle Mountain Academy's special treat for all of you. We will be seeing two fierce football teams face off head to head. First, we have the reigning champions from Nor&SoCal League. We have the Sacramento Bandits after finishing the main season 7-1 with their only loss being handed to them by their opponents today, they got their revenge in the post-season after winning against this team to earn their 2nd championship title."

"That means Mitchell's team did make it to the championship and lost."

"Yeah, that's sucks..."

"Give it up for the Sacramento Bandits!" A team ran out from the east goal wearing purple and dark blue as their team colors. 2 players stayed back as the team ran onto their side of the field, "And now, give it up for your offensive starters. Starting with the receiving yards leader last year, we have All-Pro Wide Receiver, Cody Norris!" One of the waiting players ran out on to the field joining their team on the sidelines, "Next, we have your starting Quarterback and MVP of the Nor&SoCal League Championship! He holds the record for most passing yards in a game, P.J. Nance!"

"Most passing yards in a game. Wow, that must be high...," Callie stated, "This must've been a hard game for Mr. Monceda's team."

"Yeah, he did say he lost in overtime. So it was probably a hard fought loss."

"Oh, I think his team is coming."

"And now, from the west goal post, we have the number team from SoCal. Going 5-3 last year while winning 3 of their division games, they shocked the league after coming from a 2-6 season the year before and 0-8 season the season before that to going to the championship. This high caliber team pushed their way to the championship, but unfortunately came up short. Give it up for the Long Beach Blaze!"

"Ooo," Azami started, "The uniforms on both teams look so cool. I would've expected Mr. Monceda's team to have some black on their uniform, but I guess in this sun and heat, it would suck."

"Yeah, but now we get to see him play."

"And now, your offensive starters. First, we have our breakout quarterback. He graduated from UCLA as a Heisman Award Finalist, but could never make it in the NFL. After being cut from multiple NFL teams, he arrived here in the Nor&SoCal Spring League throwing for over 4250 yards. Here he is, Marco Gonzales!"

"Oh, I heard of him before," Callie started, "He was apparently a beast at UCLA, but when he arrived at the NFL, he was deemed a bust since he was drafted in the first round by the Bears, but under-performed."

"Can some college players not play up to par in the NFL?" Sabrina questioned.

"No, only a select few still retain their numbers from their college years. However, there are some overlooked players who pass expectations after going drafted in later rounds or even signed as an undrafted free agent."

"Mr. Monceda never got to the NFL because he wasn't utilized at all and because he went into the teaching business," Azami added, "I wonder what would've happened if he did."

"He probably would've went undrafted. Remember, he said he didn't do much at the University of Memphis, so he probably would've called it quits early in the first season."

"Yeah..."

"And now," The commentator continued, "We have one of the best running backs this league has ever seen. He came from the bottom of the Long Beach Blaze's practice squad. He rose to great heights after winning league mvp 2 years in a row. He broke multiple records on both offense and special teams. He's sporting the number 5 to commemorate his 5 favorite students. Number 5, Mitchell Monceda!"

Mitchell ran onto the field with the entire crowd blowing up for him. Mitchell sprinted towards Marco and fist bumped him, "Let's get it bro," Mitchell said as ran to his sideline. He stood on one of the benches and took of his helmet before turning around and pointed at his jersey. He turned back around and pointed towards the 5 girls and gave them a thumbs up before walking to his coach.

"So coach, which captains are in?"

"You, Gonzales, and Whitehurst. We're receiving and defend with the wind."

"Got it," Mitchell met with two other players and put his helmet on. He and the two other players made their way to the center of the field.

"I can't wait to see him play," Sabrina stated, "And may I mention that he looks awesome in his gear,"The other girls could see her ogling Mitchell as he made his way onto the field.

"I'm excited too,"Kyoumi agreed, "He's gonna be fun to watch since he was able to win mvp two years in a row."

"He told me he relies on his speed and vision," Callie added, "He said he's not very good at breaking tackles from defensive linemen and even linebackers. He relies on his linemen to make a hole for him so he can get a good burst of speed."

"I wonder how fast he is. He always talks about his speed," Azami wondered, "I looked up some fast 40 yard dash times for NFL players one of the fastest running backs, Chris Johnson, ran a 4.24. That's fast."

"I think he told me he ran a 4.4 even back in high school, but he told me when he was at the tryouts for this league, he ran a 4.32," Callie answered, "So he's fast. We already saw how he was when we watched him practice the other day."

"Yeah. He's gonna be juking around all these players!" Sabrina exclaimed.

"Alright, it looks like the Blaze will be receiving the ball for the first half and will be defending the west goal. Let's here the crowd go wild!"

The crowd responded loudly as the special team units made their way onto the field, "Here we go girls. Now we get to see how he plays."

The Bandit's kicker kicked the ball to start off the game. The ball sailed high above the field and was heading for Mitchell in the endzone, "Whoo...," Mitchell thought to himself in that split moment, "I hope my knee holds up."

The ball landed right into Mitchell's hand. He ran forward from the endzone and watched as the kicking team ran towards him. He watched for what holes for him were easy for him to go through. He saw one slim hole to left and made his decision in that short time frame had. He quickly gained speed and weaved through the hole. He picked up another 10 yards before being pushed out of bounds.

"Whoo!" The commentator exclaimed, "What an amazing run by Monceda as he gets the ball to the 45 yard line. A great return and he sets up his offense with some great field position that return.

"Yeah!" Sabrina pumped her fist in the air causing the other around her to chuckle, "He gained speed so quickly. It's like he went 0 to a hundred in only a second."

"Yeah. I guess he was right. He is fast."

"Oh wow, right off bat, the Blaze are set up in the wildcat formation. I wonder what they're gonna try here."

"Wildcat formation?" Kyoumi wondered.

"It's when the quarterback is set up as a wideout and the running back takes under center. It's usually used for trick running plays, or even a running back pass play," Callie explained

"Oh yeah. Mr. Monceda said he played quarterback in high school."

Monceda is lined up behind the center and hiked the ball. As expected, it was a pass play. However, the offensive line gave up so easily, but the receivers were wide open. Mitchell threw the ball just before being hit and the receiver caught the ball and was tackled just beyond the 50 in to enemy territory.

"Oh man, he took quite a hit," But right after Kyoumi said this, Mitchell hopped up and slapped the shoulder pads of the defensive player that hit him, "Oh, but I guess it doesn't matter."

"He looks like he enjoyed it," Azami added, "I guess that's the adrenaline rush he's getting."

"So early though?" Callie wondered.

"Well, he had a good return and a good pass," Callie answered, "Not to mention that he's back playing a game he loves. I'm sure he's so hype right now."

* * *

The game continued on with both the players and the crowd enjoying themselves. Towards the end of the 2nd quarter with the Bandits ahead of the Blaze 10-3. The Bandit's fierce run stopping defense has held Monceda to only 44 yards on 18 carries in this first half."

"I didn't think they would hold Mr. Monceda back so much," Callie stated worriedly, "He's been taking some nasty hits to his legs..."

"He's fine though Callie. He gets up like it's no problem," Azami reassured Callie, but Callie knew that his legs were his weak spot. She knows if he takes one wrong hit or makes one wrong cut, it could cause a very bad injury for Mitchell.

In the final minute, Mitchell's team were set up on the Bandit's 43 yard line. In the huddle, Gonzales gave the play out, "BullRight 7 Power. Let's go."

It was run designed for Mitchell. On this play in previous years, Mitchell averaged 8 yards on this play. In the last minute they have for the quarter, they know they need to tie the game up before the half ends. They know they won't be receiving the ball in the next half and needed to score in order to gain leverage.

Mitchell knew this and wanted to at least get to the red zone. Mitchell psyched himself up for the run he had to do. He took a nasty hit to his injured knee earlier in the 2nd quarter and just needed to get to red zone so his coach can call a play-action pass.

Gonzales hiked the ball and Mitchell was quick to grab it as he handed it off to him. Mitchell quickly burst through the hole his offensive line provided.

Following his blocks, he ran through for a first down and moved to the 30, the 25, and started run out of bounds when a defender was coming fast on the left of him. He managed to get out of bounds, but the defender still delivered a fierce hit to his legs again.

"Hey!" Mitchell's coach yelled. After the hit, Mitchell's team responded by attempting to push the defender back, but Mitchell held them back. The crowd responded as well by sending a sea of boos towards the field, "That was a late hit you idiot!"

"Coach, that was a clean hit,"One of the refs responded.

"What the hell? Clean hit my ass!"

"You can tell the coach is extremely irate with the refs right now," The commentators state, "And for obvious reasons. That was an extremely late hit on Mitchell which should've been flagged."

"Those refs must be paid off or something?"Callie muttered to herself, "And I know exactly who did pay them off..."

* * *

Despite the long run, the Blaze couldn't do much more and had to get their points off a field goal. This made the score come to 10-6 into the next half. During halftime, Anna met with Mitchell who walked around in the home locker room.

"Mitchell..."

"I don't know what to do Anna. That guy... that..."

"I know. We already know that he paid off the refs to call a dirty game. What do you want to do?"

"We're gonna play. I don't care about what they say. We just can't do anything that can be over turned. This means no sideline passes or risky throws with toe taps. We have to make sure nothing can be called back."

"What about dirty hits? What do we do about that?"

"We can't do anything about their dirty hits. I have to convince our team to remain calm because as soon as we do anything, they're gonna call the penalties on us. If we wanna win and actually make this game interesting, we'll have to just..."

"I'm worried about you. You know the other players are gonna target you. We both know he also paid off some players on the Bandits. They're gonna aim low for you injured knee."

"If they're gonna be that predictable, I'm just gonna have to hurdle them."

"That doesn't save against the other players looking to target you and these players can't be fined because it's not an official season game. They win in every aspect on that field out there."

Mitchell turned around and chuckled, "Not every aspect. I think I know how to get the refs to call a clean game. Now hear me out," Mitchell turned to his team and coach saying, "Everyone gather around. I have an idea on how to make these refs call a fair game."

"What do ya' got Monceda?" The coach questioned.

"Have all of you seen the remake of The Longest Yard?" They all nodded, "Well, Paul Crewe in the movie had his way of destroying thier balls to make those refs call a clean game. How about on our next possession, you let me pass and I deliver a few fierce ones to their family jewels and we'll see if they keep calling a one-sided game."

"The plan could work. You won't be fined either because this isn't a regular season game," Anna added, "I hope the plan works because I can't keep watching you get killed out their from those dirty hits."

"So we got our plan for the next half?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Once the next half started and it was their first position, the score was still 10-6 in favor on the Bandits, "Here we go with the first possession of the half for the Blaze and look at this. It looks like Mitchell Monceda is lining up behind the center. It doesn't look like the wildcat formation, but it looks like he could be filling in for Marco Gonzales at Quarterback. Shane Powers is in for him in the backfield and I wonder what their plan is."

"Mr. Monceda was a quarterback in highschool, but it's obvious he's better at running the ball," Sabrina stated, "Why'd they put him in at throwing it?"

"I'm not sure..."

Anna watched on from the side lines as the offensive didn't even huddle the play, so the defense was obviously confused, but were dead set on it being a trick play.

"Green 80! Hut! Hike"

"Mitchell hikes it and it's a fake handoff!"

Mitchell looked down field and saw the main ref that was paid off and smirked as he waited for one of his receivers to move behind. Mitchell threw the ball as hard as he could and the ball came in contact right with the ref's family jewels. The crowd responded with a loud "OOO" as it happened.

"Oh," Sabrina chuckled, "That's why..."

"I think that hurt my marble sack," The crowd and some of the players turned towards the commentators booth in confusion, "Uh, sorry..."

"Haha," Mitchell huddled back with his team with all of them laughing, "Oh man, I don't think he learned his lesson and I don't think his buddies got the message either. Let's do it again. Break!" They got back in the same play with the whole offense still laughing, "Alright down! Set! Hike!" They hiked the ball again and instead of waiting for his receiver to run the route, he instantly threw the ball at the dazed ref even harder than before. The ref fell and this caused the Bandit's head coach to call a time out.

Mitchell walked over to the ref who was being checked on by the other refs and asked, "How about you lot call a clean game, alright? Or you may end up like Stevie Nonuts here," Mitchell pat one of the refs on the back and chuckled before running back to his sideline.

"Alright...," Mitchell's coach started, "Now we have a real game on hands everyone! Let's go show this crowd what a real football game looks like!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

With a new wave of momentum, The Blaze was able to comeback and towards the 4th quarter, they were only down by 3 with the score being 24-21. This was a callback to their championship lost against them and they weren't going to let it happen again. They had just over 3 minutes to match the ball down the field to score. They were on their own 38 yard line and they wanted to gain more momentum by handing the ball of to Mitchell in hopes he would get a long run.

"Alright," Gonzales started in the huddle, "Bull Right Power 7 again. Just like on the first play. Mitchell, can you get it to the at least their 30 yard line?"

"Don't worry. Let me break their ankles," Mitchell answered.

"Alright. We're going on one. Break!" They broke the huddle and got situated in the play they had from their first drive, "Ready! Set! Hike!" Gonzales quickly handed the ball off to Mitchell and he found the hole easily. He used his blazing speed to move the ball pass their 38 yard line. He saw a defender coming from his right and he pushed them towards the sideline by moving closer to it.

He was ready to juke the defender the closer he got to the sideline. As he performed the juke however, he felt a fierce, sharp pain in his injured knee. The pain came fast and it caused him to collapse out of bounds and instantly grab it. The play was called dead inside the redzone, but Mitchell was extremely shaken up on the play.

The crowd fell silent. Mitchell's students watched on as he down while grasping his knee in pain. His coach and staff rushed to aid him as he punched the ground. He rolled around more as the pain increased.

"Oh no. It seems we will have to take a timeout as there is a fallen Blaze on the field and it looks to be Mitchell. He's grasping the same knee he injured this last season."

"Injured?" Sabrina softly uttered, "He had an injury?"

Callie shook her head and said, "Yeah. Last year, he sprained his ACL and MCL last year. It took him out for the whole season and the reason he was doing those drills the other day was because he wanted to make sure he could still cut and juke with his knee injury."

"Did you know about this?"

"I knew he had an injury, but I only found out about what it was the other day."

"Oh no..."

Anna ran to Mitchell's side and grasped his hand, "Mitchell, I told you not to run today."

"Come on... Anna...," Mitchell spoke slowly as his brain worried more about the pain he was experiencing, "You know I can't stay away from football..."

"Coach, do you know what it is?"

"It doesn't look like he tore anything. I think he hyperextended his knee on that juke. Damn it. Shane!" The coach called out, "You're in for Mitchell!" The coach and Anna helped Mitchell to his feet and helped him to sit down, "Just sit down. We'll ice it up and put a brace on it. You'll be fine."

"Are you sure? Are sure he didn't tear anything?"

"No. If he did, he would be in a lot more pain."

"Him rolling around doesn't mean anything?"

"He's fine Ms. Parks. You just need to stay here and make sure he doesn't try to get up."

"Alright..."

* * *

The game continued, but the Blaze could not capitalize on Mitchell's long run and ended up kicking a field goal to force the game into overtime.

"Damn it. That run all for nothing," Mitchell leaned back and stretched his leg out, "Hm..."

"I know what you're thinking Mitchell. Don't go out there."

"Well...,"

"Mitchell..."

"Hey, I'll take you out this weekend, just don't say anything," Mitchell quickly hopped up and slowly ran to the coach, "Coach!"

"Mitchell! You need to be sitting down."

"Forget that. We're receiving right?"

"Yeah."

"Get our best blockers out there. Let them open a lane for me, and I'll end this in one play."

"But your leg."

"I can get one last sprint in before my leg decides to give out. If it doesn't, than we're good."

"Are you sure? What about Anna?"

"I already said I would take her out. You know she can't resist that."

"Ha, I guess you're right. Alright, get out there!"

"Look at this. Despite going down with an injury earlier, Mitchell is already back to receive the kick. How smart of a play is this."

"Is he crazy?" Kyoumi questioned, "You already know they're gonna aim low to take him out."

"They're gonna take his legs out. They can't let him do this."

"No girls," Callie started, "Believe in our teacher. Believe in him as he does for us."

"But..."

"Girls, Callie's right," Sabrina added, "He's has always believe in us and now I think it's time for us to do the same. Mitchell!" Sabrina started to chant his name, "Mitchell!"

"Is it fine to call his name out like that?" Azami asked.

"I don't care. We have to motivate him! Mitchell! Mitchell!" Callie joined in the chant with Kyoumi, Azami, and Amani joining in as well. This caused the rest of Mitchell's class to start chanting along with the rest of the crowd.

The crowd erupted with cheers and chants for Mitchell as he took his position as the kick returner. Mitchell looked to the crowd and nodded before pointing at them. The kicking team all nodded at each other to let each other know to aim for his legs. Mitchell geared himself for the chant and his teammates blocking for him gave him the thumbs up. He nodded to acknowledge them.

"And here comes the kick to begin overtime!"

The kick sailed high into the endzone. Mitchell caught it and took off immediately instead of taking the knee. The defenders rushed him fast. But he read his blocks. His right was clear and he made a b-line for that hole he had on his right. He burst through and was off. His knee was hurting, but not as much as it was earlier. He couldn't let the pain stop them. He wanted to win. He wanted to win for his school, for his friends, for his students.

Mitchell gained blazing speed and was outrunning everyone. The kicker was the last one to beat. The kicker leaned in ready to hit him low and Mitchell, despite the pain in his legs, hurdled the kicker and was off. Nobody was even close to catching and the crowd reacted to him running the ball back.

Mitchell managed to score to give them the win and the crowd roared with applause. Mitchell went to his knees and turned around and fell on his back in relief. He took off his helmet and jumped up only to be taken back down again with his teammates taking him down with excitement.

His class cheered on as Mitchell made the game winning touchdown to put it away, "Whoo-hoo!" Sabrina yelled, "I knew he could do it!"

"We all knew he could...," Callie added as she looked at Mitchell being hoisted up by his teammates, "Right? We always believe in our teacher."

"Yeah..."

* * *

After the game, the 5 girls joined up with Ms. Moon and met up with Mitchell in the locker room, "Teach!" Sabrina called out. Mitchell was sitting on one of the chairs with an ice bag on his injured knee, "Oh... Mr. Monceda..."

"It's fine. I only hyperextended it a little. I guess I still have a long way to go before my knee is one hundred percent."

"Doesn't your season start in April?"

"The training camps, yeah."

"Well, you still have a lot of time."

"It was so scary to see you go down like that," Ina added, "Everyone thought it was bad because of how much you looked to be in pain."

"It initially hurt because my past injury, but it started to feel better after sitting down for a minute or so. But, uh, now it's pretty bad. That return did me in there."

"You should rest up," Azami sat next to Mitchell and smiled, "You were still cool out there."

"I didn't perform well tho. I only ran for 105 yards on 30 attempts. They kept me down. This means our coach has to implement some different way to handle our running game."

"I'm already on it," The coach stated as he walked up to them, "They practice on covering those holes up to make sure you don't cut through them. We'll have to work on some outside runs and counters during the training camp next year."

"No problem. I don't want to disappoint anyone next year by being held down to only a few yards per carry."

"Well, you rest up and try not to get yourself before training camp starts."

"I won't."

The coach turned to Anna and nodded to her, "Thanks for letting us play and watch him for us. Make sure he actually watches himself."

"Don't worry. He'll be on leave until the next following week."

"What? Who's gonna watch my class?"

"Uh..."

...

...

...

"What?!"


End file.
